Students Sleep on the Street to Land Conquest Housing
Daily Trojan -- March 3, 2008
Students camp out for more than 20 hours in response to Conquest's new lease system.
By: Alexander Comisar
At 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, James Krusling sat wide-eyed and still, slinked down in his lawn chair outside the front entrance of the Conquest Student Housing complex Tuscany.
He and his roommate had been waiting for almost 20 hours and, although his eyes remained open, said he had never been so tired. At about 3:35 a.m., it began to rain.
More than 60 students brought chairs, blankets, pillows and entertainment to Tuscany's front lawn and waited through wind and rain Friday night in hopes of signing a lease with Conquest, whose leasing period began Saturday morning.
Because of a glitch in last year's online lottery system, Conquest told this year's potential tenants that instead of reserving their apartments online, they would need to arrive at the main office in the lobby of Tuscany and sign their leases on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Krusling, a sophomore majoring in biology, had already failed to reserve a spot in USC's TrojanHousing.
He said his group had waited in line since 8 a.m. Friday morning, before anyone else, to ensure a Conquest apartment for himself and his roommate next year.
"I just want any one-bedroom apartment that's close to campus," Krusling said. "Tuscany would be great, but if that is out of my price range, I could do Bungalows or something like that."
Tuscany is Conquest's flagship luxury complex, located on the northeast corner of Figueroa Street and 37th Place.
The Bungalows, also owned by Conquest, is a group of small houses near the northwest corner of Shrine Place and 32nd Street.
"I hate camping out. I don't even know what to say to this because I've never had to do anything like it before," Krusling said. "I think this really does illustrate that USC needs more housing."
Max Slavkin, vice president of Undergraduate Student Government and an active Conquest opponent, said the line was just one more reason why USC needs to find a way to provide more housing to its students.
"Good for students for taking initiative," Slavkin said. "But I think it says a lot about the need for more housing. It's sad that students are having to sleep outside on the sidewalk just to get housing from a company that is less than reputable."
By late Friday evening, most of the 50-or-so students in line were reluctantly geared up to spend the night outside.
"I brought my backpack with, let's see, cards, an iPod, water, a few snacks, our chairs and not much else," said Jack Friedman, a sophomore majoring in business administration. "We're going to be really bored out here."
"Conquest sucks, basically. I already hate Conquest and I don't even live in it yet," he said.
Friedman said he and his roommate joined the line because they felt it was the only way for them to obtain a decent apartment for next year.
"We heard that was the only way to do it, was to be out here right now," he said. "It's first come, first serve starting at 8, so there's no other way to do it."
Management at Conquest also prepared for a long night of waiting.
Two security guards stood watch over the students for the duration of the night. The guards kept Tuscany's doors open so that students could use the restroom in the lobby and pour themselves coffee, provided by Conquest.
Conquest management declined to comment, but one of the guards on duty said he was happy to stay the night to make sure students were as safe and comfortable as possible.
The growing line along Figueroa Street also piqued the interest of two LAPD officers, who had stopped at Chipotle for dinner. One officer, who declined to give her name, said she was not worried, but that the all-nighter might not be the smartest thing, safety-wise.
"Any time you sleep outside, especially in a neighborhood like this, you are taking a risk," she said. "But I think it will be fine."
As the line began to grow around mid-afternoon Friday, students looking to pass off their Conquest leases walked out of Tuscany's lobby by the dozens, asking if anyone would be interested in foregoing the line and signing their lease on the spot. Many in line showed interest, but no one signed.
Another 20 current Tuscany residents also addressed the line throughout the day, warning the students to stay away from Conquest.
Greg Les, a sophomore majoring in business administration, arrived with his girlfriend at about 6:30 p.m. Friday. He was about 10 people from the front of the line, and said that was enough to make him worry that he might not get the apartment of his choice.
"I'm determined to get a one-bedroom apartment in Tuscany," he said. "It is the premier place to live around here, and I want one of the apartments. But I am a little anxious because I'm kind of far back in line."
By 3:45 a.m. the rain began, but neither Les nor any of the other students in line gave up.
"I'm still very determined," Les said. "I've been listening to my radio and watching movies. But I'm so cold and this rain sucks."
Both Krusling and Les weathered the rain until 8 a.m., but neither of them signed the lease they had originally wanted.
"It ended up turning out OK because even though the prices for one-bedroom apartments in Tuscany were super high, we managed to get a place in The Bungalows for a reasonable price," Krusling said in a e-mail.
Conquest refused to reveal its new prices until potential renters came in to sign its leases. When Krusling and Les went into the office at 8 a.m., they were told the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Tuscany had jumped from slightly more than $1,900 per month last year to about $2,850 per month. Like Krusling, Les said he could not afford the rent hike.
"My original frame of mind was clouded by the excitement of getting a place at Tuscany," Les said in a message. "I was blind to all the BS I was being put through. I did sign a lease for my own place at The Pad, but not at Tuscany.
"I was pretty much ready to get a place at Tuscany up to $2,500, but $2,850 was just not a price I could swing, so I had to go elsewhere. Wish I could have been told earlier so I didn't have to wait 16 hours in the stupid cold."
