Maffet '16 publishes op-ed in Huffington Post
The Huffington Post featured an opinion piece by Justin Maffett ’16 on HuffPost College last Friday.
In the piece, Maffett suggested that Dartmouth should create residential communities that would remain constant throughout students’ time at Dartmouth. This would alleviate the lack of residential continuity fostered by the Dartmouth Plan.
“This system would produce a more vibrant social network with time no longer as the enemy,” Maffett wrote.
Maffett proposed that the Office of Residential Life place first-year students in residential communities exclusive to freshmen, and subsequently assign them to a residential house in which they would remain for the next three years. Students would be guaranteed housing in their assigned community (the Fayerweathers or McLaughlin residential clusters, for example) after returning from an off-term.
Maffett’s proposed system would expand the gender-neutral affinity program, allowing for at least one gender-neutral floor in each residential house. Residences would also have a common area in which the house’s residents or other students could study or socialize.
Maffett suggested that this residential housing system could exist in conjunction with the Greek system. The system would aim to complement the social spheres fostered by fraternities and sororities rather than replace them.
“Overall, I would hope a transition to a new residential system would spark higher levels of cooperation, trust, and solidarity within the Dartmouth student body by way of creating horizontal associations outside of the Greek system,” Maffett wrote.
The article can be found online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-maffett/big-green-houses-a-vision_b_3203612.html.