A scramble for housing

Due to the dramatic increase in the size of the Corps of Cadets last fall, houses that are usually home to traditional residential students have held cadets since the beginning of the year, with no foreseen change, according to the housing officer and adjutant for the office of the commandant.

Norwich began seeing a major jump in the Corps in 2010, when 106 more cadets landed on campus, for a total of 1,367. Norwich currently has 2,172 total undergraduate students enrolled,.according to the school's office of institutional research.

Cadets who have ended up in untraditional Corps housing find themselves living in Flint Hall, the White House, and before its recent conversion to office space, the Green House.

The White House is the first house to the right of the road leading away from the Sabine Field and the Plumley Armory gate. Flint Hall is the next building down the road right across from President Schneider's residence.

Despite the fact that these facilities are not within the campus gates, they are still considered on-campus housing. "The White House, Flint, and the Green House, which is now closed, are technically university property," said Kristine Seipel, housing officer and adjutant for the office of the commandant, "so it is not off-campus, it is considered on-campus housing."

"The Green House was originally, after being taken over from the previous owner, meant to become offices, but because of the housing overflow we used it as an extra residential building," said William Passalacqua, assistant commandant of cadets.

Now that space has been found to place the former eight residents of the Green House on the campus proper, the Green House is closed and will be converted into the new alumni affairs office, Passalacqua shared.

"The reason we located the corps there was based on the size on the corps this past fall and what we were predicting for numbers of students over the summer," Seipel said. "We had a greater need than our civilian population so we actually had to figure out ways to accommodate, as best as possible, the number of cadets on campus."

As a result of this greater demand of living space, the housing office gave priority in providing normal housing to students who turned in their housing forms on time.

"We had more students coming back, that is why we were very strict on making sure people were making the requirements they needed for housing," Seipel said.

These requirements included getting "their deposits in on time, making sure they did their housing forms, making sure they registered for classes, doing their financial aid, and all of that by a certain deadline," explained Seipel.

In order to inform the student body of these requirements, the housing office initiated an outreach effort to inform the student body. The housing office sent emails, letters, and calls through the Center for Student Success to remind students to fulfill their requirements by their deadlines, according to Seipel.

"If people were not making those deadlines or letting us know if they had problems, or some sort of issue, or at least communicating as to why they were not doing what they needed to be doing, they were cut off at that point," Seipel said.

"The consequence was they got pushed off campus," Seipel said. "That is also what's going to go forward for next fall too."

It is because of this procedure that many cadets were displaced to Flint Hall and the White House. "Some of the people who got displaced down there are because they volunteered to, others were because they were late with one of their deadlines."

"I was placed in the White House, because I turned in my housing forms late," admits Nathan Driscol, a 21-year-old junior history major from Alexandria, Va. "That's the main reason why I was placed here."

Other students were placed in either the White House or Flint due to other circumstances. "I was placed in the White House, because I spent an alternative semester off campus, to try and figure out what major I wanted," said Theodor Fuehr, a 20-year-old sophomore business management major from Leawood, Kan.

Having cadets living in Flint Hall and the White House has caused some difficulties with the Corps of Cadets lifestyle, Passalacqua said.

"Anytime you have a unit that is detached from the rest you are going to have challenges," Passalacqua said. "There are no issues as far as damage or anything like that. (The cadets) are well behaved inside the houses."

"Accountability was challenging as well as with the chain of command," Passalacqua said. "It's not an ideal situation, I wouldn't want to go back there again, it's a challenge for those who live there and challenge for the chain of command, and people need to be living on the upper parade ground."

Although cadets living in Flint Hall and the White House have difficulties communicating with their chain of command, there were still efforts to organize the cadets in both houses, said Seipel.

"A couple of the leaders down there were either late on something or volunteered to go down there," Seipel said. "Or we asked them to go down there, because they had a job with a specific unit."

"We tried to pick the (cadets) who we knew were already billeted for a duty position, and be the go-to-person for that house," Seipel said.

Some of the cadets located in Flint Hall and the White House have their squad leader living in the same house as them, while others have an officer from their unit, Fuehr explained.

"We do have people from different squads, which give us a more varied outlook," Fuehr said. "We have few from the cavalry company, somebody from echo, and than the rest of us are from delta."

According to Driscol, having cadets live off of the upper parade ground has caused some difficulties for leaders to communicate and work with the rest of their units.

"There hasn't been much difficulty in being a squad leader, so I don't have too many complaints," said Driscol. "There is just a little bit more of a barrier of communication overall."

Another challenge for cadets living off the upper parade ground is the distance of traveling from either Flint Hall or the White House to anywhere else on the Norwich campus, Fuehr explained.

"It takes you longer to get to classes and formations, "Fuehr said. "You need to have some time management skills."

"The biggest adjustment I have had to make is I have to prepare 15 to 20 minutes ahead," Fuehr said. "It has probably encouraged me to be more prepared."

Providing oneself extra time for travel has had the greatest impact on the Corps of cadets lifestyle, said Anthony Genco, a 20-year-old junior computer security information major from Cranston, RI.

"Many cadets have the ability to get up at 7:35 a.m., roll out of bed, put on their Army Combat Uniform, stumble out to formation, and make it there on time," Genco said. "If we want to do anything other than stumble out we need to make it out at 7 a.m. at least, that's the biggest difference corps wise."

Although living away from the upper parade ground has caused some complications for cadets, there are some benefits to the lifestyle, according to Losee

"Its' quieter, there is a little more freedom, and a little less active then living on the hill," Losee said.

The quiet atmosphere has had a positive impact on the productivity and mood of the cadets living in the White House, according to Driscol.

"It is easier just to study when I want to, I can focus on my school work a lot more," said Driscol. "There are a lot less guys so overall it is a lot less stressful."

My GPA this last semester while living in (the White House) has been higher than at any other time at this school," he said.