The University Record, August 13, 1996
Smooth Move-In contemplated for Aug.27-29, Sept. 1-2
By Rebecca A. Doyle
Note: Use the following link to view a detailed Move-In street map.
Minimal disruption is the target for Move-In ’96, the U-M’s designated-day move-in program for new and returning students. From Aug. 27 through Aug. 29 and Sept. 1-2, students and their parents will line the streets near residence halls, moving in refrigerators, carpeting, loft material, books, microwave ovens, clothing and other items essential to student life on campus.
During those days, traffic patterns on 12 streets on campus or nearby will change from two-way to one-way or close entirely from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. to accommodate the 11,000 students who live in University housing.
Of those students, more than 5,100 are first-year students. In 1995, the number of first-year students who accepted the invitation to attend the University was so large that 16 of them were housed in temporary space until rooms were found for them.
Walking the line between being over capacity and having vacant rooms in residence halls is a tension-generating exercise for the Housing Division, says Alan J. Levy, director of housing public affairs/information.
“This year we anticipate a very large incoming freshman class,” he says. “We will be very full, but we anticipate being able to house the entire class in the expanded residence halls.”
Last year, the second floor of West Quadrangle’s Lloyd Winchell House was converted from office space back to rooms for students, and this year both the 3rd and 4th floors will be occupied by students, an additional 100 spaces.
Levy, whose responsibilities have included redesigning the move-in process to make it move more smoothly, says that the process of moving students into the halls has gone very well in the last two years. Designating which days students can move in and rerouting traffic patterns have made the process easier on staff, faculty, parents and the Ann Arbor community.
“Each year is better as a result of fine tuning we can do,” Levy says. In addition to designated move-in days for students and rerouted traffic, more personnel have been assigned to key areas where there were some “bottlenecks” of traffic last year, Levy notes.
