UHDS News

View the video at the source: KVAL TV, Sept. 18, 2012.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Mini fridges and moving boxes were piled high on the sidewalks of Oregon State on Tuesday, signified move-in day at the University. It also marked the start of a process that will bring nearly 5,000 people to campus each day for the next two days.

Freshman like Makenzie Reed will join 4,290 freshman moving in this week at Oregon State. She said that the wait all summer was well worth it.

“I think I brought way too much stuff, but I think I was just excited about moving in,” Reed said, looking around her crammed dorm room. “I thought I’d bring my whole life with me.”

In years past, freshman moved in on a Sunday. This year, however, the school decided to change the process up.

“A weekday is definitely adding a different element with all the normal traffic on campus during a business day,” said Brian Stroup, Assistant Director of Operations and Facilities for University Housing and Dining Services.

Stroup said that the thousands of extra people on campus called for a lot of extra planning.

“We’ve been in talks with Oregon State Police and parking services and conference services and a whole lot of partners across campus for about a year now, getting everything in place to make sure we’re all on the same page,” he said.

Over 500 student and staff volunteers helped on Tuesday, making the moves a little easier to handle.

“There’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of excitement,” said volunteer Joel Bumgarner. “Families are all here, they’re trying to figure things out. The moms getting mad at the kid, the kids getting mad at mom and dad so it’s a lot of fun.”

Roughlyhalf of the registered freshman will move in Tuesday, while the rest will move in on Wednesday. The goal, Stroup said, is to make the move as seamless as possible without a lot of congestion.

“Within those days we split up the floors by arrival time windows, hoping folks stick to that as much as possible,” he said.

As for Reed, she said she’s ready for the fun to begin.

“I think I’m most looking forward to rush, meeting new people and taking classes that I’m interested in.” said Reed.

The University of Oregon will host its move-in day this Thursday, September 21.