Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Josh Filer

When many of students are packing up and leaving the dorms for home cooking, some international students will be left out in the cold because there won't be enough space to supply them with housing during the holiday break.

Although they were contacted early in the semester and told they would have to make other arrangements, they shouldn't have to. The university agreed to offer them housing during breaks and holidays, and they are clearly not doing that.

The university stresses studying abroad for its own students, but the same amount of commitment needs to be applied to students who leave home to study here. Imagine being a UW-Whitewater student studying overseas in a foreign country; for the sake of experimentation, let's say you're studying in Norway for a semester.

Imagine you're on a Norwegian campus and students are heading home for a holiday. The dormitory you were staying in for the beginning of the semester is being closed for the holiday and you haven't a place to stay. Would you have enough money to fly home and back? If you didn't that would be a lonely feeling, especially if you didn't have a solid alternative for housing.

The residence life Web site states, "On occasion, students may need accommodations during academic break periods and observed holidays. Residence hall rooms are available during these times at an additional cost."

The university went back on its own policy when it sent out e-mails in September informing those affected that they would have to "make appropriate arrangements" for themselves if they were currently living on campus.

Whether or not there was ample time given to international students to find housing off campus for the holiday break, they shouldn't have to. The university agreed to keep them from having to make arrangements by originally telling them students would be supplied housing on campus.

At the very least, the university should do the legwork for them, make the arrangements and even shuttle their luggage and other things they would need for the break.

They had a responsibility to these students, and they can't just wave that responsibility back down on them. Yes, they are adults. But they are adults in a foreign country, and now they're being asked to make arrangements at a motel or somewhere else.

They didn't come to this country to act as tourists. They came to this country to learn on this campus, and they're being told to go elsewhere for a few days.

And even if its one or two international students affected, it doesn't matter. The impact is just the same. And what happens when these students returns home? What if these holiday transitions don't go smoothly? They'll have to make these off-campus housing arrangements for Thanksgiving, winter break and spring break.

If they have a hard time making arrangements for any of these times, chances are they won't have good things to say when they get back to their home country. So how is this going to convince other foreign students, maybe their friends, from coming here? It won't, and this whole ordeal could end up hurting the university in the long run if it can't step up and help these students out.

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