SOUTH HADLEY — After lightning struck a Mount Holyoke College residence hall last month, the liberal arts school has scrambled to find housing for students, announcing Monday that waitlisted students had been assigned housing.
The July 17 lightning strike at Mead Hall led to substantial water damage, causing the college to close the dorm for the fall semester. The college came to an agreement with Hampshire College to house the 144 students who had intended to stay in Mead Hall, though that still left students on a waitlist for on-campus housing without a place to live.
Initially, the college informed those waitlisted students that they would have to find off-campus housing because no options existed on campus or at Hampshire. In a statement Monday, though, the college announced that those 18 students would be accommodated at Hampshire College.
“This act of nature, combined with planning in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic experiencing a variant surge, has created unforeseen challenges for student housing,” the statement said. “All students who met Mount Holyoke’s housing application or housing lottery deadlines were placed in residence halls either on the Mount Holyoke campus or on Hampshire College’s campus.”
The announcement came after the group MHC Students for Equitable Housing began circulating a petition, eventually gathering 2,605 signatures, calling for the college to house students on its waitlist. Those students had received an email stating that no more beds were available at Mount Holyoke or Hampshire, and that they could either live off campus or defer a semester.
In its petition, MHC Students for Equitable Housing said that students were surprised by the development just three weeks before classes were to start.
“Students are already in the process of renewing their visas, booking plane tickets, hotel reservations and transportation,” the petition said. “Giving students options of either deferring a semester, finding off campus housing, or being waitlisted for housing is financially harmful and mentally draining.”
But those students will now have housing at Hampshire College, the college said.
“Students who requested housing after deadlines had passed were placed on a waitlist while the college monitored housing data and sought creative alternatives,” the school’s statement said on Monday. “This evening, those 18 students received word that they have been assigned housing.”
Mount Holyoke has said that in addition to regular PVA buses between the two campuses, there will also be supplemental shuttles to bolster transportation needs.
“Mount Holyoke College Resident Advisors and a Residential Fellow will be living in the buildings at Hampshire to serve as a resource, provide programs and help create a sense of community in this unique situation,” a July 29 update on Mount Holyoke’s website said. “Students who are relocated to Hampshire College will be able to eat their meals at Hampshire and/or at Mount Holyoke.”
Mount Holyoke is returning to a fully residential, in-person semester this fall. The academic year will kick of with a convocation for students on Aug. 29.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.