Many students at Norfolk State reside in hotels due to housing shortages on campus that has been ongoing for the past 3 years. The students have been separated and sorted into three different local hotels including the Wyndham Hotel, Doubletree Hotel, and Holiday Inn Hotel.
The Wyndham Hotel, Doubletree Hotel, and Holiday Inn Hotel are the ones NSU is currently partnered with.
Although students have a place to stay, this situation still has its challenges. Students have expressed that this is an inconvenience socially and academically. Students claim that while living in the hotels they are finding it difficult to study and maintain a good day-to-day routine.
Tera R., a sophomore here at Norfolk State, is currently placed at one of the three hotels. Her experience living in the hotel has been challenging. “I’ve had my ups and downs,” she said.
“I’m just trying to make it through.”
The hotels, while providing a roof over the students’ heads, lack the familiar feeling of being on campus and being present within the NSU society.
One consistent issue that the students have been facing is the transportation to and from campus. NSU has graciously provided a shuttle system that provides rides to and from the campus.
The shuttle is anticipated to run every 20 to 30 minutes. However, many students have complained that this shuttle system is extremely inconsistent, with reported wait times of up to two hours.
“It’s just a lot,” said one of the hotel residential leaders.
Along with the students’ perspectives, hotel staff has chimed in on the situation as well. Lashakeema H., a front desk employee at one of the hotels noted that the transition of students coming into her workplace has been smoother than expected.
“Honestly, it’s been pretty good.” she said. “I was a bit nervous at first, but it’s been really great.”
As the semester progresses, officials in NSU’s housing and residence life departments are actively working to solve this situation. They are attempting to consolidate students and get them back to on-campus housing.
Additionally, there have been a series of strikes led by hotel staff over the Labor Day weekend taking place across nine major cities and affecting twenty-five Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott properties.
Approximately ten thousand hotel employees have gone on strike, this is one of the biggest strikes in the hotel industry in years.
Although the reasons for this strike do vary from location to location, there are a couple of major factors to this strike: wages and stressful work environments.
Jobs that require in-person interactions, fast-paced work, and long hours can be extremely difficult to navigate. That, paired with highly unfair wages and inflation, has inspired many hotel employees to demand change.
If this strike were to travel to Virginia it could affect the current state of housing at Norfolk State University (NSU). With students already facing problems related to their temporary housing, an interruption in hotel services due to a strike would just be one more thing to add to this already stressful situation.
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