By: Jojackson Igietseme
As part of the “Freshman Experience” Vanderbilt created the Move-In Crew, which helps incoming freshman move into their new rooms. Upon reaching The Commons, freshman and their parents are treated to upperclassman dressed in blue shirts and khakis, eerily reminiscent to Best Buy employees, taking their stuff and moving it up to their rooms, hence the title Move-In Crew. The system is rather efficient though. You drive through the maze like parking lot Vanderbilt has set up, listen to the Move-In Crew shout to to you about how “happy” they are to have you at Vanderbilt. Before you can even tell the Move-In people what they need to take, they’re already carting off your secret stash of alcohol and drugs. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that the elevators can’t be used, so moving in is actually made harder due to the traffic in the stairways. After dropping your stuff off in a pile right in front of the door, the Move-In crew leaves you and your parents to push through the pile of shit, you now regret bringing, and get to your equally depressing room. In theory, this seems like a good idea…until you realize that this doesn’t happen after Move-In day. Once freshman leave the commons, they’ll be forced to move their stuff into their own rooms and unfortunately, if they get Kissam, no elevators to lighten the load. Even more unfortunate is that you now have to move all of your stuff out of the dorms come end of the semester. Like crack, Vanderbilt brings you in nice and then drops you…hard.
It also doesn’t help that 1500 other freshman are also doing this exact same thing, which brings up a plethora of other questions like: How does Vanderbilt manage to get enough upperclassman to man this project? Are upperclassmen just so excited to help freshman move in? Can I add Move-In times to my Commodore Card like Flex meals? Who’s responsible if my stuff breaks? Who’s responsible if my Move-In crew person breaks? All attempts to get in contact with the Office of Housing and Residential Education, to get my questions answered, have been met with failure. Despite the scrutiny the Move-In crew faces from the writer’s at the Slant, the Move-In crew continues to serve the Vanderbilt Community wholeheartedly…unlike YES.