Lily Boland

After a request for additional housing, Simmons University is accommodating Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) inside South Hall this academic year. 

Announced in early August, the correspondence from the Division of Student Engagement, Success and Diversity (SESD) outlined that, after housing all Simmons students who requested, they were “pleased” to offer the space to WIT as part of the continued Colleges of the Fenway (COF) partnership. These students have access to Bartol Hall, the Holmes Sports Center, and the mailroom, along with the public quad area. 

Quickly a popular topic on the anonymous social media app Yik Yak, Simmons students often comment on the sometimes surprising presence of WIT students around campus, particularly in Bartol or on the quad.

Caroline Zinkevich, a third-year double major in Economics and Social Work, describes the situation as a “culture shock” within the historically women’s college. “It feels almost like they kind of threw a bunch of these people in here,” they explained. 

Some, like junior Olivia Phillips, got even less notice. Phillips had not checked her email over the summer and found out about WIT’s use of South Hall through word of mouth as the semester began. 

Despite the announcement coming in the summer, the request for help came before the Housing Selection Process. In an interview with the Voice, Rae-Anne Butera, the Vice President of Student Engagement and Dean of Students, described the request as “fairly common among the COF schools,” citing a similar scenario three years ago, where Massachusetts College of Art and Design students resided in the fourth and fifth floors of North Hall.

As the Office of Residence Life tracks housing numbers and trends year to year, students change plans. They take a leave of absence, decide to live off campus or overall make other plans. As these requests happen after room selection, the spare beds are typically spread out over campus.

To accommodate WIT’s request, while also avoiding having scattered lone beds, Simmons strategically set aside South Hall. “If we needed to use South, we would’ve used it. We weren’t going to leave any Simmons students in the cold… [WIT] has their own staff living there, overseeing the building, and then we don’t have to have Simmons students also in the building. The numbers added up from our side and from what Wentworth was looking for,” Butera explained. 

South Hall has 91 beds in total, and Butera noted that, at the time of the request, they were looking for more beds. 

Butera also addressed rumors that the number of Expanded Occupancy Triples had grown to accommodate WIT’s request. “There are no more expanded occupancy triples than usual,” she clarified. 

When Connor Graham, a sophomore transfer student at WIT, got his assignment for South Hall, he quickly found out it was on Simmons’ campus. Graham, along with his roommate Gabriel McGarry, is one of the WIT transfer students residing in South Hall. 

Although overall positive — “I love the dining hall,” McGarry commented enthusiastically — there were some bumps in the road, specifically regarding meal plans. 

“We are on a split Wentworth/Simmons meal plan…The amount of swipes and points we get is less than either of the base Simmons or Wentworth meal plans, and it’s more expensive. I was originally going to do the unlimited Wentworth meal plan,” Graham reflected. 

As colleges in the country move toward a trend of housing shortages, shared campus living situations like this are becoming more common. Ultimately, what the students notice is how universities handle these scenarios. 

“I feel like if it was addressed in more of an upfront way…if there were resources to make a blend happen, maybe it wouldn’t have been as much of a shock,” Phillips said.

The lack of connection is noted among the WIT student population as well. 

“I feel like we’re pretty disconnected from Simmons as a whole. We have Simmons IDs. We are in the Simmons spaces. But we’re not Simmons students… But I don’t want to say Simmons isn’t doing anything because there’s nothing I could even fathom asking them to do,” Graham said. 

The communications team at WIT did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

CORRECTION: SEPTEMBER 24, 2025

The title of this article has been updated for clarity. All other content of the article remains the same.