By Lisa Kaczke

Marlo Palumbo currently lives in West Village B, but due to the building closing for the summer, he has requested to move across the grassy knoll to the newer West Village H come the end of spring semester.

But the move is going to be anything but easy.

“I have to move out of B and into H on the same day as a final,” said the middler chemical engineering major.

He said it is “stupid” that Housing Services didn’t make a more informed decision on which buildings to close, and he believes the administration should calculate how many students living in each building will be living on-campus for the summer.

With a smaller number of students in need of housing over the summer – approximately 1,600 so far – the housing options are limited.

Burstein Hall, Davenport A and B, West Village A, C and H, 331 and 335 Huntington Ave. and 768 Columbus Ave. will be open for students this summer, said Marina Iannalfo, associate dean of housing services.

“We try to alternate so that we can get into different buildings each year to do some routine maintenance. We also try to make sure that we have a variety of enhanced, standard and economy rates available for students,” Iannalfo said.

Nathan Stearns spent a day last spring moving down the street from 780 Columbus Ave. to Davenport B between the spring and summer semesters.

It took him about five trips with a moving bin to transport all of his possessions from one building to the other. He even dented his TV in the process, and spent the rest of the day setting up his new apartment.

“It was silly. I had to move down the street for two months,” said the middler multimedia and graphic design major.

Although his move was difficult, Stearns’ top choice for summer housing was Davenport B, where most of his friends lived.

Since only about a quarter of students who request housing in the fall or spring ask to live in residence halls over the summer, Northeastern opens up housing to other renters.

Full-time students who are only taking classes part-time or are off for the summer, but are working full-time, can live on campus. Law students who are studying for the Bar Exam after their June graduation and non-Northeastern students taking two or more classes during the summer can also choose to live on campus.

Last summer, Northeastern rented rooms to Montana delegates in Boston for the Democratic National Convention and participated in the City Year community program.

Whether students are going to be living on campus for only one of the summer semesters or both is not a factor in where they are placed. Rather, room assignments are based on a number of variables, Iannalfo said.

“[Where the student is placed] depends on where they currently live for spring, where they are living in the fall of 2005 and whether either of these is an open or closed summer building. We try to get students in or as close to their fall assignment as possible,” Iannalfo said.

Those living on campus for the summer session will have to move into their new residences beginning May 1.