Students participating in Students Advocating for Youth and the Teaching Fellows Programs are taking up new residence in the fall.

But not all students are rejoicing in the relocation of SAY village from the fourth floor of Lee Residence Hall to the top two floors of Syme Residence Hall next semester.

Marie Fornaro is a junior in art and design who said she is frustrated with the new housing arrangements.

“Design students do and have lived in Syme ever since it was built on East Campus,” Fornaro said. “We’re not like other colleges because we have 24-hour facilities that we do actually use.”

SAY is a village that requires every student in the program to take two courses on youth advocacy as well as participate in field work, which entails going to different sites in the community and working with underprivileged children.

Robin McWilliams, the coordinator of SAY, believes this move is a much-needed upgrade, which presents the SAY village and Teaching Fellows with new opportunities.

“We’ll be close to the College of Education, so it will be convenient for students in education majors location-wise,” McWilliams said. “We’re going to have more program space. Before we were limited to the lounge in Lee and SAY administrative offices will be located on the floor.”

McWilliams also points out that the program is growing and will now be able to accommodate more people and feel more like a village community.

Karen Roseboro, a freshman in elementary education, said she also believes it will help unite education students.

“The move is a new beginning – the traditional side of campus ties in and preserves N.C. State,” Karen Roseboro said. “Freshmen will be able to see both sides of it.”

Though the move may be an exciting new beginning for education students, design students like Chris Hazard, a junior in architecture, said it could be a sad ending to the design school’s way of life.

“I like Syme a lot,” Hazard said. “It’s sad other design students may not have the same opportunity to live there – it’s basically perfect,” Hazard said.

Syme will sport a newly renovated basement, which will include new laundry facilities, doubling the size of the former laundry room, a new kitchen, an improved lounge, two new SAY offices, and a new smart conference room and air conditioning.

“Putting two floors aside for SAY village really will have an effect on the sense of our community,” Fornaro, also the president of the Design Council, said. “The environment the design school curriculum fosters is one of very close friendships and relationships, which rely on one another to grow – this requires living near our peers.”

Design student Korry Richards said he is disappointed by the move but understands its rationale. ??”It really has a design atmosphere, but they are moving SAY for a reason,” Richards, a sophomore in industrial design, said. “I can’t complain, although it is unfortunate.”

Michael Clinkscales, the new director of the Teaching Fellows Program, emphasized the reduction of distance for students to get to Poe Hall.

“Being closer to Poe Hall gives the chance to be networking more with fellows in face-to-face conversation, which encourages bonding and will strengthen the program,” Clinkscales said.

Working late hours in a studio concerns many design students.

“Safety is a big issue – we have to be close to where we work,” Cynthia Meadors, a junior in architecture, said. “I don’t think many education students stay in Poe Hall until 5 a.m.”

Due to the safety issue, University Housing said it prioritized housing design students in its first pick.

“Safety was a conscious concern, and University Housing tried to provide fair and equitable options for people.” Tresa Barlage, assistant director of East Campus housing, said.

According to Anthony Shurer, graduate services assistant for University Housing, design students were given first priority to fill up rooms in Gold, Syme and Watauga residence halls.

According to Barlage, many students responded they were not aware that the newly renovated, single-sex, Gold and Welch were options.

Barlage said Housing created a wait list created for students who were being displaced from Syme to fill any rooms the SAY village does not. No one has signed up.

“The reality is, there are still spaces in the halls, and while it feels that people are being displaced or kicked out, we can accommodate the same number of students who would traditionally return,” Barlage said.

Tim Blair, associate director of East Campus housing, gives numbers to help paint a more descriptive picture.

According to Blair, Syme has 221 total spaces available with 100 to 120 of those spaces reserved for SAY/Teaching Fellows villages.

This spring 69 Syme residents were students in the College of Design with 26 freshmen, 21 sophomores, 18 juniors and four seniors.

Fornaro and others said she hopes a design village can be implemented somewhere and a new tradition started in the future.

“If nothing else, we would like to see University Housing consider the needs of the design students before they make changes in the future that so clearly affect the lives of those in design,” Fornaro said.