Events and changes made in the past month at Beloit College have led students to question the transparency of information the school has with its students. This started with a potential safety threat on campus, and has continued with housing access and pricing information. 

On Tuesday, March 3, an incident involving two students and a firearm took place on campus. The Beloit Police Department (BPD) became involved, and the event culminated in a student’s arrest the same night. Information, including misinformation, quickly spread through the school. 

On March 6, three days later, the Dean of Students’ office sent out an email to the student body confirming this incident had taken place. However, no information other than the fact that “the firearm was not used or brandished at any point” was given.

The Round Table has reached out to BPD for any information. At this time, as the investigation is still ongoing, BPD was unable to disclose any further information about the incident.

This incident allegedly occurred mainly in complex 3, which pertains to dormitories 609 Emerson Hall, 815 Hall, 840 Hall, Haven Hall and Wood Hall. The Round Table spoke to a resident assistant (RA) in the complex about the incident.

“I think they could’ve been more specific and they should’ve sent out an email earlier, because there was a gun on campus.” They continued with frustration over the perceived minimizing of the situation: “you can’t just be like ‘there was a small little hiccup, but don’t worry, it’s all sorted,’ and not give any more information.”

They also referenced back to a situation that took place last spring semester, saying, “they don’t tell faculty sh*t, they barely tell the students, and I think this is sort of a pattern.”

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On Friday, April 3, the Dean of Students sent out an email regarding the changes in housing. For weeks prior to the message being sent, students were already hearing about a major change in housing via individual meetings: single rooms would cost $400 more than doubles and triples, per semester. 

The speculation by the student body came after an email by the College’s CFO informing students that the comprehensive fee was increasing by 3.8%. The fourth paragraph of the email stated, “[t]his adjustment reflects the average cost associated with double occupancy housing and the Blue Meal Plan. Please be advised that fees may vary depending on specific housing selections and meal plan options.” 

The Round Table spoke to Jake Fein’27, an RA, about the housing policy change. When asked about how they initially heard about the change in the policy, they said, “it was something that was talked about in the ResLife office one day, where some office workers were talking because they had read the original email sent out on March [5] by the new CFO, announcing the 3.8% increase. They had read the paragraph and apparently understood it in a different way then I had, and read into it, and then they were thinking [the cost of a single room] was going to increase.” 

Fein went on to say, “That same day I walked up to Randi’s (Randi Mogul, director of Residential Life) office, and asked her about it and she confirmed the change. She confirmed the email was not the clearest and there should be further clarifying stuff and Ron (Ron Watson, dean of students) was going to do that.”

While the change was supposed to be implemented during the next academic year, starting fall 2026, it has since been rescinded and will now begin starting in the fall of 2027. However, it is unclear what the difference in pricing will be. 

In the morning of April 8, students received another email from the CFO, written by Leslie, informing them that the single and double room differentiated pricing is in fact being implemented in the 2026-2027 academic year. The email states, “We have decided to align single and double housing costs to differentiate pricing between single and double rooms. Beloit College is introducing differentiated pricing for single rooms to align with industry standards, promote equity by ensuring students pay in proportion to their living space and privacy, and better manage demand and housing resources while supporting the maintenance and improvement of residence halls.”

The email came with an attached frequently asked questions Google document for students’ questions. Among these questions is the housing of students with accommodations. The document states, “[s]tudents with housing-related disability accommodations will continue to work with the LEADS (Learning and Disability Services) office to ensure their housing accommodations are met. All students in a single room will be charged single-room rates.”

Alongside the proposed pricing, the Outdoor Environmental Club (OEC) and the Beloit Independent Theatre Experience (BITE) special interest houses are being moved, and those homes will no longer be campus housing. The Round Table asked Louis Benard’26, president of OEC, about the move. 

“They are selling the OEC and BITE properties because upkeeping those old-ass properties cost the school too much money. We were assured club housing by Ron Watson either in 815 or 840.” 

Benard went on to say, “[Mogul] has given away all of the singles in 815 which means we probably can’t get housing there. Due to the proximity of them telling us, to the [timing of the] housing lottery, there may be no way for us to get club housing in the dorms.” This information is alleged, and Benard expressed that there will be a meeting with him and the Dean of Students in the days following the release of this edition of The Round Table. The reasons for this discrepancy of information relayed by Mogul and the Dean are unknown at the time of publication. 

Fein commented on the timing of the housing-price announcement, saying, “I think the school is knowingly trying to push things through later in the semester… when they know students won’t be able to put up a fight.” 

Touching on previous issues, they continued, “every single time there’s a tuition increase, they vote on that in their September Board of Trustees meeting and have historically announced it in April, this year it was early.” Fein is a student representative in the Board of Trustees.

In an interview with Vice President of Finance Strategy & Operations Tim Leslie and Dean of Students Ron Watson (aforementioned), both Watson and Leslie responded to criticisms on the timing of the announcements relating to housing: “[t]here was an initial thought that the differential pricing… would happen for this coming year. But, we ultimately made the decision not to do that, because, quite frankly, we do think students do need more time to understand,” Watson said, on the topic of the $400 single-room increase. 

“The thought process there was: we’re going to try to figure out a way to rightsize something that has been sort of out of whack for a long time. Really, no other school does what we’re doing. None of our peer schools do,” Watson elaborated. 

On the topic of the OEC and BITE houses being “taken offline,” as Leslie put it, Watson touched on timing, flexibility, and thinking creatively:

There were a variety of different factors that resulted in that decision, us not being able to make that decision until late. And that’s something that was, I mean, that was a tough decision…We are committed, and I certainly am committed to making sure that we always have, if not several months, if not a year, at least more weeks in advance notice, if we have to make those sorts of changes. And that’s one of the reasons why the message I put out now is already telegraphing things from next year… Because, again, those changes will come. They will happen, and that gives everyone involved at least a full calendar year to be thinking about, well, what can we do? That also gives me, and my office, and other folks in senior leadership the opportunity to meet with and talk with students, especially those who will feel that they’re being targeted in some way. It gives us an opportunity to talk to them and to find different ways to achieve those goals based on the other housing options that we have. 

The two also expressed their shared perspective that the changes will benefit the most students possible.

Leslie told The Round Table of a list of tenets being used for prioritization decisions to improve housing on campus: “improve living conditions for as many students as possible, improve the worst living conditions first, and then… finish all the previously started dorm projects that are partially improved, but not entirely improved.” 

And, since the houses being taken offline are “historical homes,” as Watson refers to them, they “are very expensive to maintain,” Watson said. “In order to keep them in the repair that historic homes need to be in, presents –one could argue– an extreme investment of resources that actually could be better served in other places.”

When The Round Table brought up concerns raised by other students about identity-based special interest homes, and the possibility of those being taken offline because of the current national Presidential administration, Watson assured that the events are not connected in any way.

Overall, Watson and Leslie acknowledged that there is room for improvement in terms of transparency and communication. “I think we could definitely communicate better when it comes to space use,” Leslie said. 

“It was absolutely not ideal to have to have to make that call when we did,” Watson said. “[t]hat being said, the folks who were directly impacted by this decision, they really impressed me by how willing they were to think through: what other options could we do? ….And that’s the kind of creative thinking that I think we are all being forced to do – meaning myself too.” 

_{Featured image: Beloit College}