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The Rice Thresher
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by Elizabeth Jardina thresher editorial staff
He didn't expect to be sleeping on the floor of his new apartment when he arrived here from China on Aug. 16. Of course, Li feels lucky that he has an apartment at all. The Rice Chinese Students and Scholars Club helped him find a place to live after he was told that there were no rooms available at the Rice Graduate Apartments. "We were hovering close to 100 percent [occupancy] throughout the latter part of July, but we actually hit 100 percent the week of July 24-28," Grad Apartments managing director George Griffin III said. One-third of the apartments are reserved for returning graduate students; another two-thirds are reserved for new students. The decision of how to allot rooms was made when the apartments were first built by the Graduate House Council, said Robert Patten, a professor of English and the Graduate Student Association faculty adviser. Patten explained that the council tried to balance the need to keep the apartments as full as possible with the needs of new students to have a place to live. Li said he didn't want to try to secure a room in the apartments until he received his official visa authorizing him to come to the United States. In order for international students to receive visas after they are accepted to a university, they must prove that they have financial support. Then, the Office of International Students and Scholars sends an I-20 form, a certificate of eligibility for non-immigrants. The students then must take the I-20 to the American consulate or embassy in their home country and apply for a visa. By the time that Li actually got his visa in June, the apartments were full. Griffin said one-third of the 212 available beds in the Grad Apartments are filled by returning students, as per the decision of the Graduate House Council. However, he also said that this was the first year that the apartments filled up, which is probably why new students couldn't get apartments. GSA President Elle Marie Schollnberger said part of the problem with the new Grad Apartments is that they're so much nicer than the old Graduate House, a building formerly on the corner of Main Street and University Boulevard that was demolished in May. "With the Grad House, most people came for one year or six months, and since the facilities there were not as nice as the new Graduate Apartments, most of the folks were very motivated to leave the Grad House after six months to a year." Griffin said he is sympathetic to the plight of the estimated 20 or so international students who couldn't get housing at the Grad Apartments, and that, in the future, the process of allotting beds will change with the special problems of international students in mind. "I don't want international students feeling that they have a disadvantage," he said. With the help of the RCSSC, Li and two roommates are living in a two-bedroom apartment on Dryden. RCSSC helped about 20 Chinese students find apartments this year. Li says that transportation is difficult, but they're managing. "No, we have no cars, that's part of the problem," Li said. "I haven't driven in my country." Having no car, it's hard for Li and his roommates to buy and move furniture. "For example, we have only a table and a bed, but we have no chairs," he said. Becky Dodge, the department coordinator for Environmental Science and Engineering, said that there is a Chinese graduate student in her department who likewise couldn't find housing. That student, too, had nothing to put in her apartment. "Of course they're not bringing furnishings with them - they have what they can carry on a plane. ... So I was running around to the dollar stores to find plates and cups," she said. She said she managed to find and secure an apartment for the student before she arrived, although Dodge had to get the electric bill in her own name because the electric company required a social security number. The issue of how many of the Grad Apartments will be reserved for new students will be discussed by GSA focus groups this semester, said Schollnberger. "The way the procedure works now has not worked," she said. "While it is a relatively small amount of students who are affected - about 25 on the waiting list - for those students, it's very important. Housing is a very important issue."
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