Getting into freshman Abby Lovett's bed used to be difficult, but not anymore.
"I used to have to lift up the ironing board, put it on my desk, and then put one hand on the bed and my foot on the desk and pull myself up," Lovett said. She was in one of 34 rooms that were above capacity at the beginning of this school year. She had to share a double room in Longden Hall with two other people.
"Your stuff or their stuff was constantly in the way of the other's," Lovett said.
Lovett also had to share a closet with one of her two roommates which she said also was difficult for her.
"While we had our boundaries you couldn't avoid going through their things to get to yours," Lovett said.
The number 703 is at the root of the problem - it's the number of new students who showed up in August. The largest freshman class in nine years at DePauw caused Dorie Paine, director of residence life, to turn double rooms into triples and one triple into a quadruple at the beginning of the year.
However, two weeks ago two freshmen across the hall from Lovett's room, also sharing a triple, left and moved into some open spaces in Hogate Hall. That left an opening for Lovett and she moved into the room. Two of the forced triples were now doubles again.
In fact, Paine said she has offered all the women in overcrowded rooms the opportunity to move into other rooms. The residents of seven of those overcrowded rooms have decided to stay where they are.
Freshman Alison Clark is in one of those who decided to stay in a crammed triple.
"When I first got here I was a little upset," she said, "but luckily we all get along so well that we decided to keep things the way they were."
Clark said she and her roommates had to loft one bed, bunk the other two and bring in a not-too-useful portable closet.
The story is different for men, since there is less room to move. Ten rooms for men are above capacity. Paine said she had better success in finding rooms for women because several sororities found room within their houses for some of their members who had been living in the residence halls. Consequently, the freshmen pledges were able to move into the former rooms of those sorority members.
Paine also said some spaces have opened up on upperclassman male floors and she said she is willing to work something out if any freshman wanted to move to a less-crowded room.
While some students are looking to move out of the crammed quarters, one DePauw student is making a double into a triple. Freshman Carly Himmelstein moved in with two of her friends, freshmen Erica Kruse and Damara Karamesines.
"She was always hanging out here, and she even started taking her phone calls in here," Kruse said. "Once we rearranged the room and used cinder blocks to give us space under the beds, we actually had more usable room than before."
In 17 different rooms, an extra person is still squeezed in. Paine said students who wish to change their crowded situations should contact her.