The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Campus housing

  • Life on campus

    Life on campus

    by Alina Ferguson

    I lived on campus for two years without a car. I am now currently living off campus, in another city actually, with a car and I can say without a doubt, to me, living on campus was actually a very nice experience. I will explain why, and I promise it will make sense. 

    I miss the convenience of living on campus. I could walk across the grounds in ten minutes, which is good because if it’s late at night, and I want to visit a girlfriend, it is not a problem. I felt safe and confident walking long distances across campus. 

    It’s just about accessibility and location to me; I could easily rest after class, it’s been a long class day but I still have another couple to go. I could chill in my room, change my clothes, eat, maybe get to watch an episode of my favorite TV show and still make it to class EARLY. Campus is also centrally located, making it easy to walk into town or go to the grocery store. You can explore and get in some exercise, two birds with one stone. 

    Living off-campus makes me long for the redwoods. Living on-campus allowed me to go on a hike between classes. I am in the redwoods after all, and it is amazing that we have trails here in our backyard when living in the dorms. 

    I also feel like most on-campus quarrels begin with sharing a room. For many, it’s their first time  doing so. I’ve been used to sharing a room my whole life, so it was never an issue for me. Having an older sister really prepared me for any roommate, as I learned how to communicate efficiently, calmly and just learned to let some things go. Yes, you may get a bunk, or a roommate, but at least if you’re locked out, someone can let you in. 

    Of course, living on-campus does require you to make some compromises, like the fire alarms. They do not stop unless an RA comes and calls someone else. With maintenance requests, they did do good work when requested, with the work being done quickly and efficiently. Also one of the maintenance men was really cute. I miss that. 

    Okay, hear me out on this one, in a way, you save money, because you have to buy less. If you are anything like me – I sincerely hope you are not – then a trip to Target for one thing turns into buying so much that I need a UHaul to bring it back, and guess what? There is no room in the dorms for all of that stuff. So, it keeps me from buying an insane amount of junk, which I have been doing since moving off-campus. I apparently need 6 pillows and 40 wooden bowls, because I’m into the look of wood currently.  I love wood, wooden bowls, wooden plates, just wood. 


    At the end of the day, for me it is all about nostalgia. Campus was the first place I lived by myself, without my parents. The convenience and accessibility campus gave me makes me miss it now.

  • Living on campus sucks

    Living on campus sucks

    by Kae Dennert

    I hated living on-campus. The mold, the roommates, the noise? I only lived on-campus for a year, but I could never go back. Don’t get me wrong, if you have no other choices, I get it – I really do –  but other than that, no thanks. 

    I don’t get why anyone would want to put themselves in a situation where they have to slum it with a shit-ton of other people when they could have their own space. I’m not paying 10k+ a year to live in half of a room with no private bathroom for 7 months, when I can pay half that and have a house year-round (AND MY OWN ROOM). 

    I lived in campus apartments on the ground floor, which meant I would wake up with ants crawling on me, and get sick at least once a month from the mold. Not to mention my roommate had the opposite schedule as me, staying up until 3 A.M. laughing and talking while I was trying to sleep, because I had practice at 6am the next day. 

    It was nearly impossible to fit all of the things I needed into my dorm room, considering we’re given such little space for our objects. Sharing a regular sized closet between two people and having no other space besides under our beds was obnoxious, and anytime I needed anything new I had no idea how I was going to fit it.

    Off-campus is significantly nicer because I’m able to be in charge of my own spaces, I don’t have to share a room, and I have a private bathroom. I also got to choose my own roommates (shout out to them), which means no more randoms that make life extremely more difficult. 

    I will end by saying this: I spent my last 3 months of on-campus living on my friend’s couch walking a half mile each way to school so I didn’t have to share a room with my roommate and deal with the dorm space. It isn’t worth it to live on-campus.

  • What It’s Like Living On Campus After the Exodus

    What It’s Like Living On Campus After the Exodus

    Despite Humboldt State University going digital, campus housing remains open

    Humboldt State University President Tom Jackson announced via email March 18 that the school would be going entirely online, and he encouraged students to vacate campus housing if possible.

    “It is important we reduce the number of people on campus,” the email read. “We encourage students who can return to a home off-campus to do so. We will not displace students who are facing housing insecurities or homelessness.”

    “They should have just made the choice before people left for spring break to keep it as safe as possible.”

    Calista Tutkowski

    Freshman Calista Tutkowski was among those who decided to move back home after learning that classes would transition online. Tutkowski considered her choice the right one for her own physical and mental wellbeing.

    “It felt like things were just going to get worse and worse on campus and around the world, so if I was going to be doing online classes, I wanted to be home with my family,” Tutkowski said.

    Tutkowski was frustrated with the sudden notice from the school. By the time the school sent out the notice that they were going online and encouraging students to leave the dorms, she had already gone home for spring break and was out of state. Like many other students, she had to return to campus to pick up her things, potentially putting herself and others at risk by traveling.

    “They should have just made the choice before people left for spring break to keep it as safe as possible,” Tutkowski said.

    Some students are still on campus. Emma Bradley-Solis is one of those who elected to remain in campus housing despite virus concerns.

    “I live in Washington and it is a lot worse there,” Bradley-Solis said. “I thought it would be smarter for me to self-quarantine here.”

    According to an April 7 Enrollment Management report, about 300 students remain on campus. Most of the campus facilities are closed, including the library, computer labs and University Center.

    With the severely reduced numbers of students left behind, pickings are slim. There isn’t much variety left in the food selection, and many staples such as rice, pasta and fresh fruit are out when Bradley-Solis goes to the marketplace. For students who rely on J-points to eat, this is both a serious problem and a waste of the money spent on their meal plans.

    “I feel like they could take care of the students still here better—like better food,” Bradley-Solis said. “We paid a lot of money for J-points.”