This year’s first-year class is the largest since 1969 and balloons the student body to its most populous state since 1972. From the overcrowded lunch lines in Café Mac to the frustration felt by many who joined waiting lists over ten students long for some entry-level courses, the progressively larger class sizes are leaving their mark all over campus.

The first-year class tops out at 513 students, which is about 50 more students than the 465-student average class size.

“[Admitting students] is a science and it’s an art,” said Director of Residential Life Sarah Griesse. “You [only] know how many spaces there are, how many applicants you have, and your historical data.” She also blames the poor economy for the high enrollment.

Currently, the school requires all first-years and sophomores to live on campus, requiring the school to provide housing. “If you require two classes to live on [campus], you must have enough housing for them.” admits Griesse.

Now that the first-years live in Dupre singles and dorm lounges across campus, the juniors and seniors, who traditionally get the leftovers, are the real losers in the housing fiasco.

“It reduces the number of beds available to juniors and seniors, and there’s not a whole lot we can do about that,” said Griesse.

The newer dorms usually reserved for the upperclassmen are sprinkled with sophomores pushed out of their traditional housing by the wave of first-years. “We have allowed sophomores to live in George Draper Dayton, but we have not put sophomores in Kirk,” said Griesse.

Sophomores even reside in the brand-new Wallace attic, originally meant exclusively for juniors. “[The attic] is great except for the heat,” says student Danny Bell ’06, one of the few transfer students who were given housing on campus. Bell was lucky that Macalester added 24 new beds with the completion of the Wallace attic renovation project.

When the 54-bed Turck expansion project is completed next year it will also help to alleviate the crunch. Next fall Macalester will be closer to its goal of housing 80 percent of the student body on campus.

Macalester does not aim to house its entire student population. “Some people come to Macalester rather than going to Carleton because it is an urban environment and they want the apartment experience,” said the Griesse. “Living on campus is not for everyone.”

Residential crowding on campus is a touchy topic for upperclassmen. “There are freshmen living in singles? What the hell! Those are supposed to be reserved for sophomores!” said an anonymous sophomore. “They better not kick me out of my house [next year]!”

The use of lounges as triple dorm rooms will most likely be a temporary situation. Residential Life hopes to move the lounge residents into real dorm rooms as they become available unless those students prefer to remain with their roommates in the lounge.

“We don’t want to separate those people if we don’t have to,” said Griesse. “We will first look at the people in the lounges and then see what their desires are.”

The Café Mac dining hall is another area where the increased student body is visible – particularly in long food lines and lack of seating. “It’s really noisy and cramped,” said Sean Peterson ’07.

The best way to avoid this crunch is to avoid peak hours by eating a little earlier or a little later.

Griesse did offer some hope for the future. “Right now is the worst time because everybody is doing everything at the same time. Some of it does sort itself out.”

There are also some positive effects of an increased first-year class.

“There are more people here. You feel the camaraderie. You feel the excitement. You feel the investment. More people will join things, so student organizations will be stronger,” commented Griesse. Athletic teams are stronger and clubs are being formed by ambitious first-years, like the Dance, Dance Revolution (DDR) Club.

For better or worse, they are here. Even though they contributed to the significant housing crunch, they will undoubtedly make campus life more varied and interesting.