Graphic by Hayleigh Colombo

Several rising sophomores and juniors found themselves on a 2012-13 housing wait list after last week’s housing selection nights.

The lists contain a total of 90 students—36 sophomores and 54 juniors.

“We’re going to go through those wait lists as quickly as we can to get everyone into a place where they are pleased,” said Karla Cunningham, director of residence life.

Cunningham said the wait lists aren’t an unusual circumstance.

Twenty-four students were placed on wait lists for Apartment Village last year.

Dean of Student Life Irene Stevens said the housing shortage always gets worked out over the summer.

“Unfortunately I know it’s disconcerting to the students, but we will find a space,” Stevens said. “Once we get an idea of the incoming class and the numbers there and the numbers of the returning students, we juggle things around a little bit and see what comes out.”

Seniors were given first priority in room selection at Apartment Village. Seniors have the option of living off campus. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors have to live on campus.

Stevens said this year’s wait list is longer than last year’s because a few more seniors than usual signed up to live in Apartment Village. She also said next year’s junior class is bigger than usual.

“It may very well be that most of University Terrace will be juniors, where in the past it’s mostly been sophomores,” Stevens said. “UT is our flexible space that allows us to move people around a little bit.”

She said residence life doesn’t want to have to limit the number of seniors allowed to live in Apartment Village.

“Our philosophy has always been to reward seniors for being seniors, and if they want to live on campus in the village or in UT, we try to accommodate that,” Stevens said.

Sophomore pharmacy major Caroline Hedrick said she is waitlisted for AV but was assigned an apartment in UT.

“Hopefully I’ll get AV as a senior,” Hedrick said. “It’s not that big of a deal for me, but it’s definitely an inconvenience.”

Cunningham said some sophomores who didn’t get a room in Residential College have already been placed in Ross and Schwitzer Halls.

Freshman marketing major Allison Altenberger said she and three roommates put ResCo as their first choice and UT as their second but still were placed in Schwitzer. She said they are on the wait lists for Resco and UT in case a spot opens up.

“I am very disappointed in what has happened, but I am simply sharing my situation and the facts,” Altenberger said. “I think in doing that it will make the whole Butler community aware of a crucial problem that needs to be fixed.”

Stevens said on-campus housing is a numbers game that will continue for a while.

“I think the trustees have looked at whether or not we need another residence hall on campus, but no decision has been made in that respect,” Stevens said. “It probably won’t be made until the trustees and administration set some goals for student enrollment, as far as the numbers they think are ideal for Butler. It’s a combination of enrollment and facilities.”

Stevens said that she is asking waitlisted students to be patient.

“There’s no need to be too concerned,” she said. “There will be space come fall.”

The Sophomore Conference on Real Experiences is aiming to help students make the best of their remaining years at Butler University.

The conference will begin Friday with a speech by College Mentors for Kids CEO Erin Slater. The speech will be directed towards students who might be re-examining their life choices.

Breakout sessions let students choose the topics of interest to them. The 50-minute sessions will cover topics such as internships, finding a career, real life skills and the history of Butler basketball.

David McCullough, the director of university band and a member of the Year 2 professional faculty, said choosing the session topics was a lengthy process.

“It was a combination of what the sophomore council wanted to do and what the professional faculty and staff wanted to do,” he said. “It was really a wonderful collaborative effort.”

The council wanted to choose what would hook the students in and get them talking, McCullough said.

David Woods, adjunct professor in the Eugene S. Pulliam School of Journalism and author of the book, “The Butler Way,” is among the speakers at this year’s conference.

This is the first year that a conference focused on the sophomore class will be offered, but this has been in the works for many years, in what McCullough called the sophomore initiative.

Although the response to the sophomore initiative has been somewhat slower than anticipated, 30 students have already registered for the conference, McCullough said.

While he prefers students register, McCullough said all students are welcome to attend.

Sophomore Myke Vandevoort registered for the conference hoping to gain some new skills.

“I felt like there was information that I could learn from it,” Vandevoort said. “I consider myself a leader and so I thought it was maybe something I should go to so I would be able to learn a little more about that.

“I also felt that there was some stuff like study abroad and internships where I was originally like ‘oh yeah, I know about that’ and then I sat down and really thought about it and realized that I didn’t know much so maybe I should go learn a little more.”

McCullough and the sophomore class are not certain what exactly it will be like but all are hopeful that it will benefit students.

“Every time you do a first outing, you put something out there and hope you’ve done the right things,” McCullough said. “Certainly after seeing the successes or what did not go so well the first time, we can then do something different next time.”

SCORE will be held in the Reilly Room and is open to all students.