Officials at Eastern residence halls were forced to think beyond the constricting four walls of the average dormitory room to accommodate the increase of students this year.

Eastern’s residence hall enrollment is up approximately 500 students from a year ago, forcing the housing department to place students in lounges and in Greek Court, said Mark Hudson, director of housing and dining.

Freshmen were the driving force behind the increase, followed by transfer students. Extra freshmen posed a special challenge to the housing department, considering Carman Hall, the most popular living area for incoming freshmen, was close to full capacity last year, said Doug Howell, resident director at Carman Hall.

Further housing strains were posed after two floors of Lawson Hall were lost to occupy offices from the Doudna Fine Arts Center, which is closed for construction.

To accommodate the increase, 50 incoming, non-greek students are being permanently housed in Greek Court. Most students are grouped into four and living in suites. Hudson said 12 Greek houses are harboring incoming students, for example 12 students are in the Zeta Phi Beta house, four students are in the Phi Beta Sigma house and six are in the Sigma Phi Epsilon house.

“We try to put them in those clusters so they have their own smaller community inside the larger community,” he said.

Eastern has not had to house students in Greek Court in six or seven years, Hudson said. However, the school does have a contract with Greek Court, allowing them to place non-greek students there in the event of an overflow.

The agreement also benefits some houses that have been having trouble recruiting Greek students to live in Greek Court.

“Several houses have been thankful for the extra students because it’s helped them meet their requirements,” Hudson said.

The overflow of students has also spilled out into residence hall floor lounges. Women in groups of three are sharing lounges in Lawson, Andrews, Lincoln and Taylor halls, while men are living in Thomas, Taylor and Douglas lounges.

No women were placed in Carman Hall lounges and only two floor lounges are being used on the men’s side of Carman Hall, said Hudson.

Students placed in the lounges and Greek houses will pay the same in room and board fees as students in regular residence hall rooms, Hudson said.

Most students have reacted positively to the change, and students who are living in standard rooms have been very accepting, he said.

“I knew what we were getting, and I was excited,” said Bernadette Mary, a freshman journalism major living in the fifth floor lounge of Lawson Hall. “I knew how tiny those dorms were and this room is huge.”

“They need the extra space,” said Christine Henderson, a junior elementary education major who lost her lounge in Lawson Hall. “It was nice to have a lounge to study in, but there is not much we can do about it. If it’s going to bring more students to Eastern, it’s a positive change.”

The housing office also denied singles to about 100 sophomores.

Hudson said the office expected an increase in students in the Spring, so he warned sophomores that they would not be guaranteed a single. All sophomores were assigned roommates, but given a grace period to withdraw from their housing contract. However, Hudson said only five sophomores canceled their housing contracts.

Enrollment increases were had to predict before the application deadline, but the situation could have been much worse, Hudson said.

Residence assistants were told they would have to give up their singles and live with a roommate if lounges and Greek Court became full; however, the increase never got to that point.