February 25–March 3, 2009, Number 531
On Campus Living: Recontracting 2009
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Recontract! is the residence hall theme for 2009. As student sign their contracts for next year, this theme is a reminder of another, "Go Green"—both promote a healthier environment on campus and for the Earth. The recontracting homepage mentions some of the interesting facts in terms of how green the residence halls are becoming. For example, the dining halls on campus have been making an effort to recycle. Currently they're recycling about 400 pounds of cans and 350 pounds of cardboard per week! They are just one of the facilities on campus participating in the “Go Green” campaign.
All students currently living on-campus will receive a pamphlet that discusses the recontracting process and important dates in their mailboxes this week.
In terms of the recontracting timeline there has been a slight change. Students will be able to start on March 1, the same as past years. However, students already living in the residence halls will have one month to complete this recontracting process. After April 1, students who try to recontract will be placed on a waiting list until first year assignments are completed. As the timeline shows, those students wishing to remain in their current rooms can recontract on-line on March 1. On March 2, students who did not recontract into their same room will become “displaced students.” This means that they cannot recontract to live in the same room again and will have the opportunity to select another room available on campus. The rest of March has specific qualifications for students to recontract, so looking at the recontracting timeline website will help answer any questions you or your student might have in regards to when they can recontract.
Last year Michigan Tech decided to implement a new meal plan system called “Unlimited Swipes”. Speaking with representatives and knowing friends who still live on campus, it seems to have been a great success. With unlimited swipes students have unlimited access to the dining halls as long as they are open. More information about the different types of unlimited meal plans can be found on the 2009-2010 meal plan website.
A few other changes will be made to the residence halls for next school year, and these include the addition of more alcohol-free living areas, moving the Leadership Learning Community to Wadsworth Hall (from Douglass Houghton Hall), and an increase in residence hall security. The alcohol-free living areas include 5 halls in Douglass Houghton, 4 in McNair and 11 halls in Wadsworth. The Leadership Learning Community (LLC) which was located on the 3rd floor of Douglass Houghton Hall will be moving to Wadsworth Hall next year. This is just one of seven different Learning Communities that we have here on Michigan Tech’s campus. To see more specific information, check out the Learning Communities website.
Looking ahead to next week’s article, I’ll discuss options for off-campus living. If there are any questions or comments about this article feel free to email me at my personal email address. Also, if you have questions specifically about housing on campus, you can direct your inquires to housing@mtu.edu. As always, any suggestions for future articles are welcomed.
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885