Dorm
residents make transition at Parkside
By Gina Ponce
On-line Forty-Niner
Conversions
made to the dorms at Cal State Long Beach’s
Parkside Commons over the summer brought
mixed feelings among this fall’s residents.
 The
Parkside dorms have previously been constructed
with a common living room surrounded by
six double rooms. One resident assistant
would live on the first floor of every building
to aid students. The new housing plan added
140 rooms, along with another resident assistant
available on the second floor. Fourteen
students now live in each suite, for a total
of 126 students per building.
“I chose to live in the dorms my first year
because I thought it would be easier to
meet people,” said Sarah Hale, a second
year dorm resident at CSULB. “I chose to
apply again for my second year because I
thought it would be easier than apartment
searching.
“The new rooms suck,” Hale said. “You can’t
study in there anymore and it breaks the
suite in half. I don’t get to know anybody
who lives on the other side.”
According to Ed Murawski, the associate
director of Housing and Residential Life,
new additions were made to the dorms in
an effort to accommodate the changes.
DVD players were added to all of the downstairs
common rooms, and vending machines were
placed inside the buildings. Each lobby
will be open longer at night for study time
and to give students a place to go.
Other dorm renovations are not planned,
Murawski said. Since school started Murawski
said he has not been made aware of any complaints
from the students about the new rooms.
“Some students have complained about furniture
being too big, but since the first week
there haven’t been any complaints,” Kurt
Rinaldi, a first semester resident assistant
in the dorms. “Most people have just gotten
by with it, and now they seem to like it.”
Rinaldi said his job was not made any harder
by the addition of new students to the buildings
because twice as many resident assistants
are available to handle situations.
A CSULB freshman living in the newly renovated
study room, Abigail Broome, said, “The rooms
are really small. The furniture is really
nice, but the space is limited. Dorms are
dorms, but I think I’d rather be in one
of the old rooms.”
When asked how the bathroom situation is
working out, Broome said, “A lot better
than I thought it would be. I’ve only been
in there twice when someone else was taking
a shower. Everyone’s schedules are so different.”
Barbara Flatt, a fifth year business student,
has made her home in one of the new rooms.
“At first I thought it was really small,
but I got used to it,” she said. “The furniture
is nice but it’s too big for the room. I’m
ok with it now. I think it kind of sucks
they had to take out study rooms because
people actually used them sometimes.”
Flatt said the new rooms have smaller closets
and no bookshelves or bulletin boards like
the older rooms.
Hale said the only other difference in the
dorms this year is the much more crowded
dining hall.
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