Mini refrigerators, futons and TVs littered the lawns and sidewalks around campus residence halls on Saturday.

Students pushed laundry carts full of their belongings to move into their new homes as Saturday kicked off the first move-in day for most students living in campus residence halls.

Helen Nelson, a grandmother of first-year student Michael Nelson, waited outside of Centennial Hall as her grandson went inside to check in and get the keys to his dorm room.

“I’m just here for the support,” Helen Nelson said, as Michael Nelson approached with a little brown envelope with his keys inside it.

“I got a single and I asked for a double,” he said. “It’s OK, I can still meet people.”

Nelson walked through the maze of Centennial Hall, accompanied by his girlfriend, trying to find his room.

“This is it,” he said, as he approached the door on the first floor of the west wing and went inside.

“It’s what I expected,” he said of the small space. “I’m not surprised.”

Nelson, who is from Breckenridge, said he was ready to get out of his small town and start something new. The University was a good place for the change he needed, he said.

Laurie McLaughlin, director of Housing and Residential Life, estimated 5,600 students will move into residence halls this fall, of which a majority moved in this weekend.

McLaughlin said approximately 305 students will be housed in expanded housing.

Aerospace engineering sophomore Steven Eyberg was one of many students who moved in a day early by volunteering to be part of the “Bruininks Welcome Crew,” which helps first-year students move in.

Eyberg, who is living in Centennial Hall, said he decided to volunteer so he could move in early and meet some new people. He said being able to move in early was a lot less stressful.

“For the most part it’s been quiet; the new freshmen seem really timid,” he said.

Eyberg said the biggest problem was dealing with parking, which was strictly enforced by the University police department traffic control. They gave out many parking tickets throughout the day to those who violated the 30-minute unloading limit.

Gregg Knudtson, father of sophomore Emily Knudtson, also noted the problem with parking.

People parked in the unloading zone and left their cars even after they had unloaded everything, Knudtson said.

“Thirty-minute unloading means unloading, not 30-minute parking,” he said.

Gregg Knudtson, who moved his daughter into a residence hall for the second time, said he was pleased with the extra number of volunteers willing to help students move in.

“It was definitely easier the second time around,” he said. “It helped that we were educated from our move-in experience last year.”

Dorms go dry
As students move in, there are new rules to follow.

All of the residence halls with the exception of Centennial Hall will be alcohol-free this year, regardless of whether students are legal to drink.

McLaughlin said that in previous years, students could consume and have alcohol in their room if they were 21 or older in all residence halls, excluding Territorial Hall and Frontier Hall.

“If you are of legal age you can still have alcohol in the University apartments, which include University Village, Wilkins, Yudof and one residence hall, which is Centennial Hall,” she said.

Last year, the Housing and Residential Life staff researched policies of other universities that have a designated residence in which students of age can drink, and decided a similar policy for the University would be a step toward sending a “strong message” about underage drinking, McLaughlin said.

“We thought that this would be a good direction for us to go because we have so many students living on campus who are not of age,” she said.

Mannix Clark, associate director of Housing and Residential Life, said the policy makes sense because only 7.2 percent of students living in University housing are of legal age to consume alcohol.

Only 2.9 percent of students living in residence halls are old enough to drink, he said.

Clark said Centennial Hall houses the most students who are 21 and older, which is why it is the exception from the rest of the residence halls.

“We always have a concern with any high-risk drinking in the halls and we address any issues that go against our policies or the law,” McLaughlin said. “So we will address those issues and try to help students make good choices.”