Residents in South Village spoke up about positive and negative changes in housing this new academic year.

Housing and Residence Life looks a lot different now than last year. Students are thrilled about the updates but also concerned about certain adjustments they need to make.

Housing has implemented many changes such as waiving the non-resident guest policy, opening up Tower 1 to residents, opening the Wellness Zone, extending Village Café hours, and much more.

Guest Policy 

Last year, residents were not able to have non-resident guests in their rooms or the buildings because of COVID. This semester, residents can have non-resident guests over during the day and overnight.

Scarlett Juarez, a psychology major, shares how not having this policy anymore positively impacted her and her family.

“I love the guest policy opening up,” Juarez said. “My mom is disabled and she wasn’t able to see my room at all last year. Now she can come and see my room at any time and that feels good.”

Another resident, Jaquelyn Robledo, agrees with Juarez because this policy limited her ability to see her family members last year. Robledo is a history major and some of her family members live far from Los Angeles.

“I was so sad last year about the guest policy that we had to follow,” Robledo said. “My brother wasn’t able to come to visit me and I didn’t see him as often as I wanted to.”

Wellness Zone

Many residents, like natural science major Jasmine Winters, are excited about the South Village Wellness Zone opening up this year, including a gym, meditation rooms and a spin room.

“I use the gym often now that it’s open,” Winters said. “It’s convenient for a quick workout and because it’s closer to me than the on-campus gym. I like the meditation rooms they have. It was quiet and the lights were dimmed.”

The Wellness Zone is only for residents and the hours are 7 a.m.-11a.m. and 5 p.m.-10 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturdays.

“It gives the options to busy students to work out early in the morning and later at night,” Winters said.

Other students disagree about the convenience of the gym hours.

“They are open in the morning and at night but they are closed between 11 a.m.-5 p.m.,” graphic communications major Lea Lang said. “That is a big gap during regular hours where the gym is closed, which doesn’t make sense to me.”

The university identified peak use hours and set the gym hours based on peak use, according to a statement from the university spokesperson to the University Times (UT).

“The Xtreme Fitness Center is located on campus in the basement of the University-Student Union and is open and available for student use,” the spokesperson told the UT.

COVID-19 Cases

Residents also have concerns about how housing is dealing with COVID-positive cases this semester.

Last academic year, Tower 1 was used to isolate South Village residents that tested positive for COVID-19. Residents’ meals were also delivered at their doors so they would not leave their rooms and get in contact with anyone.

Juarez thinks that last year’s isolation system was a good one but this year she feels housing does not have an adequate isolation plan.

“Residents that test positive for COVID-19 will have to isolate themselves in their rooms even if they have roommates,” Juarez said. “I feel like there should be at least a floor in Tower 3 that is just for isolation, especially because Tower 3 is the only tower that has a few empty floors. People with COVID are also allowed to go inside the dining hall and eat there.”

“For meals, the resident who tests positive for COVID-19 is required to contact the dining manager and select a meal,” the University said. “The dining manager has the meal ready when the resident arrives at the front door.”

“If the roommate of a person who has COVID expresses concern, we provide an alternative room during the isolation period,” the University added. “We have had no complaints this year regarding this issue.”

Dining Hall Hours

Students are happy about the extension of the dining hall hours. They are now open two hours later, with a closing time of 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday while hours from Friday through Sunday did not change.

Robledo likes this change because she, like many other students, has night classes until 8:45 p.m. Being able to have the option to eat after class is convenient for her.

Paint on Walls

Another concern that students shared is that the paint used on the South Village walls gets ripped off easily and students get charged for it.

Robledo thinks it is not fair for housing to charge students for the damage caused by simply decorating the walls. She believes that anything put on the walls is going to rip off the paint so the only way to not get charged is not having anything at all on the walls.

“I have to hang things on my wall because it’s really sad to have empty walls,” she said. “But now I have to think about what to put up so I get charged the least possible.”

“How do they decide how much to charge and who is going to be charged?” Juarez said. “What are their actual expectations for the walls?”

3M Command Large Utility Hooks, Scotch Indoor Double-Sided Mounting Squares and Scotch Removable Wall Mounting Tabs are what the university recommends for dorm walls, according to a statement to the UT.

“These adhesives are recommended for most wall accessories under five pounds,” the university spokesperson said. “We’ve tested these adhesives and they do not cause our paint or drywall to peel.”

Waste Reduction

Another change that housing has implemented is getting rid of disposable to-go boxes at the Village Café. Instead, each student gets only one plastic to-go box at the Village Café which costs $5. They cannot get a second box until their box is returned. Once they return the box, they get a new clean one.

Yasmine Pinzon thinks that this is a positive change because it decreases waste and it’s good for the environment.

Lang and Winters agree with Pinzon and they believe that this change is good because the trash cans are not overloaded anymore with disposable boxes. Instead, students keep their plastic box or return it to dining.

Welcome events

Housing and Residence Life has also hosted many welcome events for new and returning residents in the first few weeks of move-in and the fall semester starting. Some examples of the events are Trivia Night, Polaroid Palooza, Grocery Bingo, Zebra Party, Movie Night, Glow With The Flow and a Barbeque Carnival.

Child development major Mia Matos attended many of these housing welcome events. She enjoyed the Grocery Bingo and she liked that residents had the chance to win household supplies and groceries.

“The activities were more fun and more people participated this year,” Matos said. “There was something almost every day since we moved in. I liked the raffles and how the questions for Trivia Night were based on movies.”

Pinzon thinks the Barbeque Carnival was fun because there was a variety of good food and fun games, and Housing gave out Cal State LA shirts.

“It was a good way to see everyone and start a new semester,” Robledo said.

Disclosure: The writer is a resident and RA for Cal State LA housing.