Freshmen move into North Morlan after displacement

The relocated freshmen began moving back into the North Morlan residence hall Sept. 23 and were given the option to use a moving service in order to ease the process. MAYA BRAUNWARTH, Staff Photographer

Almost a month after the North Morlan Residence Hall at Chapman University was closed down for repairs, approximately 80 of the over 150 relocated residents are packing up their bags from their temporary housing assignments and moving back into the hall.

Rick Turner, the vice president of Facilities Management, said the repairs made to the building’s infrastructure were finished on Sept. 22. According to Dave Sundby, the director of Residence Life and First Year Experience, some minor touch-ups are being made on the first floor, but the significant repairs are all done. 

Some of the students were given the choice to stay at their temporary location — Panther Village or The K Residence Hall — instead of having to move out since they had been placed with other first-year roommates, according to Sundby. Meanwhile, other students, who were displaced to Chapman Grand Apartments, were required to move into the dorm because they had roommates who were continuing students.

According to Sundby, students had two options for moving in: they could move themselves in, or they could use the moving service offered by VIP Transport, which has a contract with the university. If the students wished to use the moving service, their boxes had to be packed and labeled. Residence Life provided all of the boxes, tape and pre-printed labels for the students.

In order to help facilitate the move-in process, students signed up for a date and time through a Calendly link that was sent to their emails. Although students had to be home to show the moving service which boxes they needed moved, they did not have to meet the workers at their North Morlan assignment since the workers could access the rooms to drop off the boxes. Students also had to pick up a temporary ID card, which they could use until the move-in was completed.

Sundby also told The Panther that the move-ins started Sept. 23 and are expected to be completed by today.

Bryan Molina, a resident advisor (RA) assigned to North Morlan, described the strange experience of residing in an empty building. The RAs learned of their temporary relocation through a meeting held after the university discovered the infrastructure issues, and were told to move out to South Morlan that night.

Despite the distance, Molina said the North Morlan RAs still attempted to build a connection with the residents while they were displaced and scattered across other buildings.

“We tried to send out emails to let them know what’s going on,” said Molina, a sophomore peace studies major who started working as an RA this semester. “But, that’s hard because we didn’t exactly know what was going on, either. We had to move into North Morlan, then move out and now we’re moving back (in). It’s a little tedious (and) a little frustrating, but I think overall, we’re just excited to start seeing our residents and actually do our jobs.”

Molina said that moving back to North Morlan, balancing his class assignments and preparing for the residents who were moving in was nerve-wracking and stressful.

“It was really challenging to not be in your North Morlan space and (the room) was not ready yet, and (you) also had to be doing homework and talking to people,” Molina said when describing the move-out process. “But, at the same time, (moving out) was just one of those things that had to happen. We couldn’t be in North Morlan with those massive plumbing issues, so it was just unfortunate.”

Molina used the moving service offered by Chapman and said that it made the move a lot easier.

“I personally didn’t have or hear about anything being broken or boxes being misplaced or anything like that,” Molina said. “The movers were quick and efficient, so the move was much more bearable.”

Molina also said he and the other North Morlan RAs were concerned about being put in a temporary housing option like Panther Village or Chapman Grand — a sentiment shared by many of the freshmen.

“We were just trying to figure out what this is going to look like for us,” Molina said. “They told us ‘You’re reassigned to South Morlan,’ but what’s our job going to look like? How is it going to be affected? Which, you know, it was affected.”

Lizzeth Camacho, a freshman graphic design major, was one resident who was temporarily moved to Panther Village, where she lived with two other students and was separated from her original North Morlan roommate. Upon moving back to the residence hall, though, Camacho was placed back with her original roommate.

While she became friends with her Panther Village roommates, Camacho said she didn’t really know them at the time of moving in and she didn’t know how long they would be her roommates for.

“That was really scary, but at least it turned out well,” Camacho said.

Camacho told The Panther that she initially wanted to stay at Panther Village, but was concerned with the cost and the “unreliable” hours of the shuttle service, both of which she said would make her life stressful, especially as an undergraduate student.

When she had to return to North Morlan, Camacho, like Molina, said the move-in process was easy because of the moving service and the provided boxes and packing supplies.

“It was just stressful going from one place to the other, like, again, basically,” Camacho said.

She also said because her time at Panther Village was temporary, she did not bring everything from home that she initially wanted to bring. She brought only two boxes and two bags to the short-term placement.

“It was disappointing because I wanted to get into decorating my place, but it was a temporary place, (and) I couldn’t decorate it,” Camacho said.