The Department of Residence Life is considering various options for dealing with the impending housing shortage that will occur after the demolition of Ridgewood Quad this summer, which will result in the loss of 109 beds.To accommodate the most undergraduates on campus, Director of Residence Life Richard DeCapua said, the University is considering placing undergraduates in some Charles River Apartments, which are currently designated for graduate students.

Other options include changing the class-designations of Residence Halls, such as placing more sophomores in first-year dorms and reevaluating the number of lofted triples for first-year students.

DeCapua said he could not yet release the final plan to deal with the housing shortage, but he said it would be presented early next semester to the Student Union.

Ridgewood is being demolished to construct a new residence hall that is due to open in spring 2009,

"There is no one thing that will be able to solve [the problem]; it will be a combination of looking at all the different options right now," DeCapua said, adding that his office would like to house as many juniors and seniors on campus as possible.

There are also no plans to implement lofted triples for students after their first year. DeCapua said first-years and seniors will be the least affected by the change.

Taletha Derrington, president of the Graduate Student Association said she was concerned for the International Students who would be especially disrupted as a result of the plan.

Derrington explained that one complicating factor this year is the above average size of the class of 2010, whose members will be guaranteed housing next semester as sophomores.

The department is also coordinating with Admissions to ensure that they do not admit more students than can be accommodated, DeCapua said.

"If we go as high as we did this year, it's going to be very difficult for us to not only house students, but provide the services for them as well," he said.

Looking into towards the future, he explained: "If another big class comes in the fall, then that's another big class cycling through four years of housing here, which will hinder us trying to provide housing for as many people as possible."

According to DeCapua, after considering the options individually, he determined that any one option alone simply would not solve the problem.

But DeCapua did note that the plan will not totally alter housing, as he said the Foster Mods would continue to be exclusively for seniors and Ziv Quad would continue to house both juniors and seniors.

DeCapua said his department was considering placing more members of next year's larger sophomore class than usual in either first-year quads or graduate housing in the Charles River Apartments.

He added that some emergency rooms for overflow in the first-year quads had contained beds in the past that could be put into use again.

According to DeCapua, the office is also developing a public relations campaign to inform students about their housing options and help them find a room to their satisfaction.

"I don't think this is the end of the world for housing." DeCapua said, adding that Brandeis would still not be able to house every student for all four years, even with the residence hall slated to open in 2009, until the addition of more housing locations in the far future.

Derrington said that any plan that would affect graduate students should include the appointment of a staff member focusing exclusively on graduate students.

DeCapua acknowledged a staffing shortage, but pointed out that his office was creating a Web site focused offering general information about off-campus living.

Adam Schwartzbaum '07, coordinator of the Housing Advisory Committee, said his committee saw the appointment of a special staff person as a priority.

Senator at Large Andrew Brooks '09, a member of the housing advisory committee, said: "I'm sort of worried as a sophomore...my chances of having on-campus housing is decreasing and I really hope it doesn't, because I really do want to live on campus.