Roommates Melissa Schultz and Christine Vlasic are two normal undergraduates living in an abnormal atmosphere.
The residents of Cherry Lane Apartments found a cleaner, less expensive apartment on campus, but also found little solidarity between neighbors.
“We try to talk to our neighbors, but we don’t carry on long conversations,” Schultz said. “Grad students’ wives just look at us when we say, ‘Hi.’”
That’s a problem one of MSU’s most diverse communities has been dealing with as it struggles to overcome cultural differences. Diversity has created a lack of involvement in the governing body that oversees the apartments’ 2,000 residents, a University Apartments official said.
Schultz, a psychology junior, said there isn’t a sense of community in their Cherry Lane complex - a mix of graduate and undergraduate students - despite efforts to bring the neighbors together.
She said she gets e-mail that makes her aware of community functions, but doesn’t think it applies to her.
Vlasic, a medical technology senior, also said she doesn’t feel the need to interact with other residents.
“We don’t go to those things,” she said. “They are more for people with family and kids. We are just undergraduates and we already know everybody around town, so we don’t go to ice cream socials.
“Even if they tried to get us to go, I don’t think I would go to the community events. I like to say, ‘Hi,’ to my neighbors, but I wouldn’t hang out with them for some coffee.”
Their governing body continues the struggle to address residents’ living concerns resulting from the community’s lack of communication and participation.
Jeremy Roark, president of the University Apartments Council of Residents, said his organization faces different challenges compared to the Residence Halls Association, an undergraduate organization.
Roark attributes a sense of insecurity as a reason so few residents involve themselves in the housing issues.
“I’m not sure how willing I would have been to get involved in an organization that claimed to be a government organization or a governing body,” he said. “I believe there can be a problem with some with a language and cultural barrier.
“I would like to see the council and residents see the potential in the organization and empower the community. We want to give them the sense that through the organization they are able to better their community.”
If apartment residents could work together with the Council of Residents, problems such as a lack of Ethernet access and poor water quality might be solved, Roark said.
“It comes out red in the faucets,” he said. “It’s been tested and proven that it is very high in calcium. People have complained about losing hair and skin drying as a result of the water being so hard. Most people just go out and buy bottled water.”
University Apartments receive the same water from the university but do not have a water softener outside of the laundry facilities.
“We can’t drop the ball on this Ethernet issue, but I believe it is safe to focus on water,” Roark said.
Mursel Catal, a botany and plant pathology graduate student, said he has little contact with his neighbors, but enjoys the safety and proximity to work, school and church.
“We don’t have that much interaction with our neighbors,” Catal said. “We rarely come together and talk. We know when the events are, but time doesn’t allow for such activities.”
The sense of community is in stark contrast to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student apartments, home to 4,000 residents who represent more than 65 countries.
Bev Udall, a resident manager at Wisconsin’s student apartments, said there is a sense of community because of diversity there.
“We have a few programs that bring different cultures together,” she said. “Because of the of the wide diversity we have here, people feel more comfortable getting involved.
“With our housing staff we have, they make an real effort to have any fliers we have translated and programs that are specific to building diversity.”
Udall credits events such as the International Potluck as community builders. Residents meet one Friday a month to talk to neighbors and sample foods from around the world, she said.
“People here are extremely sensitive to the fact that there is a lot of cultural differences,” she said. “They really try to meet their neighbors.”
Eduardo Olivo, University Apartments area coordinator at MSU, said he’s also trying to provide residents a sense of community.
“It is hard to create the sense of community when you have people from different backgrounds and lifestyles,” he said. “It is a very heterogeneous community.”
He said the problem is getting people to come out of their apartments.
“The challenge is how to get all of these people together, single students, undergraduates, graduate students, family and children and develop a sense of ownership in their own communities,” he said.
Casey McNenly can be reached at mcnenlyc@msu.edu.
