Several residents of the Howard Johnson were furious after receiving an email from Residence Life on Monday night saying that they were being forced to move onto campus within a week.
The email said that University of Tampa officials were “consolidating all Howard Johnson residents to campus” by Monday, Feb. 8.
Students were given the option of participating in an open room change, but were informed that if they did not choose a room they would be given one and notified via email.
“We were forced to form a community and they are breaking that up,” said Chris McEleveen, a transfer entrepreneurship major from Birmingham, Ala. “I feel like we’re inventory in a warehouse and there is nothing we can do about it.”
Eric Cárdenas, director of Public Information, said that Residence Life is hoping to move all of the students out over the weekend.
“It’s been the university policy to move students back on campus when rooms become available,” Cárdenas said.
Currently, there are less than 50 students staying at the Howard Johnson, but there were 260 students that moved into the hotel at the beginning of the fall semester to compensate for the large incoming freshman class.
Throughout the semester students were moved onto campus as rooms opened up. In fall 2008, 70 students started their UT career in the Howard Johnson and all were eventually moved to campus after the fall room change.
In 2006, UT used the Hyatt Downtown to house students and many of them stayed there until winter break.
According to Cárdenas, Residence Life has not received any complaints from students or parents, but regardless, the students certainly have an opinion on the matter.
“I’m kind of pissed off about it,” Melinda Bellis, a transfer nursing major, said.
Bellis and her twin sister were originally promised that they could live together, but when she asked Residence Life they said they couldn’t guarantee anything.
One student, John Maichin, saw the move as an inconvenience because he had already made the necessary purchases for his Howard Johnson room and now he is going to have to buy more items once he moves to campus.
Another transfer student from New Jersey was feeling pretty beat when he heard the news of the move after living at the Howard Johnson for only three weeks.
Lewis Bruno, a sophomore marketing major, thinks that people that don’t have a roommate to move in with should go to the open spots so roommates can move in together.
“Who wants a new roommate when you just got used to it?,” Bruno asked.