The unexpected relocation of students from Pomona College’s Oldenborg dormitories to make space for isolation housing has sparked frustration and concern among students over the school’s handling of on-campus housing.
On Tuesday, Sept. 10, four students living in Oldenborg dorm accommodations were notified via email that they would have to vacate their rooms by Friday, Sept. 13.
“Due to the housing needs of the college, you are being administratively moved out of the Oldenborg 307/309 double spaces,” Director of Campus Life Operations Josh Scacco wrote in a Sept. 10 email to them.
Eze Iheanacho PO ’26, one of the four relocated students, expressed frustration at having to move on such short notice and questioned the college’s approach to housing.
“It’s clear that they are pushed to the brink with the housing crisis,” Ileanacho said. “As we get more people and more students every year and we’re not building more housing, people will not be happy with having to stay in these cramped rooms.”
Erick Diaz PO ’27, who was also relocated, said that he didn’t select to live in Oldenborg but was assigned to a double room there during the summer, despite initially wanting a single room.
“At the end of last year, I got a late housing time, so when I got to choose housing there weren’t any open spots [left anywhere], so I got deferred,” he said. “Two to three weeks before school started, I got my housing assignment, and I was put in a suite in Oldenborg.”
Diaz was relocated to a single room in Harwood Court and expressed confusion about the situation.
“I don’t think there was a big downgrade in terms of housing,” he said. “I was just confused why they went through the trouble of putting all four of us in Oldenborg because if the singles were always open, why weren’t we just put in the singles in the first place?”
Pomona’s Oldenborg Language Hall — which houses the Language Tables program, as well as 140 students in dormitory facilities — has previously been the subject of much debate surrounding Pomona’s housing.
In February 2023, a TSL report found that a surge of Oldenborg housing applications was due to a desire for its coveted amenities. Students cited the fact that Oldenborg was one of only five dorms on campus out of 14 total with options for single rooms as well as air conditioning.
In an email to TSL, Scacco said that the relocations earlier this month were part of a normal administrative procedure to ensure the availability of isolation housing to quarantine students infected with COVID-19 for the 2024-25 school year.
“Residents agree that, in managing the best use of the college’s facilities, Pomona can perform administrative moves,” Scacco said. “Recent administrative moves involved shifting 4 students from waitlist double rooms into single occupancy rooms with a typical 2-3 day moving timeline.”
According to these students, they had received no prior communication from the Pomona Office of Housing and Residential Life regarding this change and were offered little support.
“The staff that I talked to at Residential Life made it clear to me that they did not want to help me with the moving process,“ Iheanacho said. “They weren’t even willing to provide me with a moving cart.”
Diaz echoed similar sentiments, expressing frustration over the logistics of moving.
“Since they placed us on the third floor of Oldenborg, I had to move everything back down three flights of stairs, and then move into my room at Harwood, which is on the second floor,” he said. “The idea of carrying all my things up and down so many stairs was really daunting, and I was confused, and there was no help [from Residential Life].”
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