A little reminiscence from our childhood if you don’t mind. The forever humming-in-your-head lyrics to one of the greatest songs to be sung by puppets in a film — “Happiness Hotel” from The Great Muppet Caper:

“Oh, there are bugs (there are bugs),And there are lice (there are lice),Sure, we have our little problems, but you’ll never beat the priceYou got every kind of critter,You got every kind of pest,But we treat ’em all as equals just like any other guestThough you’re cleaner than the others, still as far as we can tell,You’ll fit right in at…”

E.S. King Village?

Oh yes, the song about a slum hotel in London that Fozzy, Kermit and Gonzo visit rings true for many students and their families who live in the E.S. King Village on campus. Well, all except the part about never beating the price.

E.S. King Village, the on-campus studio apartments that time forgot, houses international and graduate students along with their families, but possibly not for long. Tenants of the Village will see a 3 to 4 percent increase on the apartments that are reported to be in poor shape with all sorts of critters and inadequate amenities, like heating.

Now, 4 percent does not seem like a lot of money, but let’s go with a little hypothetical situation to really feel out the problem.

You are an international student. You are married. You have a child. You are working towards your Ph. D. Your spouse can’t work because their visa doesn’t allow it. Your entire family lives across the globe so keeping in touch tends to get a little expensive.

A 4 percent increase starting to sound a little bit more serious?

We’d say so, especially for the condition that E.S. King Village is in. The University has thrown so much money at their crown jewel of housing, Wolf Village, only to leave E.S. King Village a mere speck in the shadow of the great towers of Wolf Village.

The University needs to realize that E.S. King Village is the place where academic achievement and international notoriety for the University is born and bred — not only figuratively speaking about the graduate and doctoral students but also quite literally with the amount of children living there.

The University is showing its slum lord tendencies by increasing rent on buildings that are far from the par set by other housing options on campus. Let’s not leave the families we support shivering in the cold while they try to make ends meet and become our next generation of academics.