Temple U. Hoping All Its Students Have A Place To Stay For Winter Hiatus
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With the winter holiday break coming up, some college students whose dorms are closing for a week are effectively homeless during the holidays.
Kevin Williams, director of residence life at Temple University, says not all of the dorms are closing during the break. But for those that do, some students who live in those dorms may have nowhere else to go.
"We give them a variety of options in a variety of ways to (let us know) that they need a place to stay -- without having to say that they're homeless," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Who can't go home for the holidays?
"It's students who possibly don't want to go home because it's too far. There could be issues at home that they're working through with their parents, bad family relationships. It could be a student who's come out and this is not the best time for them to be at home."
Williams says that so far, all Temple students have been accounted for, but he says making sure the students are okay sometimes takes a bit of detective work.
"At the beginning of the year students are required to fill out emergency contact information. Those students who list their siblings or list a grandparents, that says to use something else is there; we keep that on our radar," he says.
Williams adds that students will occasionally come to the aid of each other:
"What we will see is other students will say, 'Come stay with me for the break. Let my family be your family.' That actually happens a lot."
