College dropout refuses to leave her dorm room
By Julia Marsh and Ruthie Weissmann - New York Post
She loves the college life — just not the classes.
Hunter College is waging a court battle to evict a stubborn student who refuses to leave her dorm room some two years after dropping out.
Delaware native Lisa S. Palmer — who has not paid rent since 2016 — refuses to leave Room E579 at the school’s 425 E. 25th St. co-ed dormitory, according to an eviction lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The 32-year-old “racked up a staggering $94,000 in unpaid residence hall charges on account of her continued occupancy, all the while ignoring Hunter College’s service of additional vacate notices,” said the suit.
“As of today, June 7, 2016 you are still in occupancy of the aforementioned room,” Michell Quock, assistant director of residence life, wrote to Palmer two summers ago.
Last fall a Hunter attorney continued the battle to get rid of Palmer, sending her an eviction notice that said in bold-faced type: “THIRTY DAY NOTICE OF TERMINATION.”
“You are required to vacate and surrender the premises on or before Oct. 31, 2017 at 12:00 p.m.,” the attorney wrote.
But the former geography major, who now works for an architecture firm, refused to budge.
“I plan on fighting the lawsuit and while I fight it, I’m going to stay,” Palmer told The Post from outside her messy, 100-square-foot single, which is adorned with a lava lamp, a dream catcher and piles of dirty dishes.
Though school officials say Palmer dropped out, she insists Hunter refused to let her register for fall 2016 classes after she disputed her housing and tuition bill.
“I felt that it was a miscommunication initially, but after I met with the dean I felt that they were starting to treat me unfairly. It was like, ‘Get out,’” she said.
Only full-time students who maintain a minimum grade point average and keep current on their room and board fees can stay in the dorms, the suit says.
Palmer, who first enrolled in Hunter in 2010 after a stint at St. John’s University in Queens, said dorm life is “really lonely” for someone in her 30s.
“I feel very isolated,” she said, noting that Hunter moved her to a wing that’s only occupied by a middle-aged nurse, whom the college is also trying to evict.
The college wants to boot a total of nine nurses who were given rooms in various wings of the E. 25th Street building when it was owned by Bellevue Hospital.
The resident nurses include 67-year-old Derek DeFreitas who kept a dormitory room “crash pad” at the address for decades.
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