It's not about "freshman dorms." It's not about sequestering the 'shmen or ruining traditional Dartmouth. Traditional Dartmouth, as far as residential life is concerned, died rather abruptly with the advent of the D-Plan. It used to be the case that students identified with their clusters, competed in intramurals, and even petitioned the administration for changes by cluster. Now they just beg for housing. And we might as well dive into the thick of it: the old system did not interfere with Greek affiliation any more than the proposed one will.
The Office of Residential Life is not exactly popular among students to begin with -- there are enough rules and by-laws and procedures to drive a person crazy. I don't believe that this is intentional -- it is simply not enough to point a finger at the administration and blame them for everything. Especially when they take the time to come up with something better, only to be ignored by the students the new plan is meant to benefit.
Let's review some history here. "Old" housing procedures allowed residents of a certain cluster to remain in that cluster; those who were unhappy could sign up to switch. But the students housed in the River and Choates, found this frustrating, because no one wanted their housing, and they were stuck. So ORL, to accommodate students, switched plans. We have had a few -- including priority by class and by random lottery. It is still, and perhaps even more so than before, a mess.
The First Year Experience Proposal offers another chance, and one I believe is the best yet. According to this proposal, the River, Choates and Fayerweathers-Wheeler-Richardson (Bema Cluster) residential halls would become first-year clusters, and the rest of the dorms -- deemed most desirable according to requests ORL receives -- will be open to upperclassmen, who may remain in the same cluster until graduation.
So what's wrong? Are we feeling sorry for the 'shmen? The ones who, year after year, end up more bonded with their UGA groups when they live in the River and Choates than anywhere else? The same ones who will probably receive $35,000 in programming funds per cluster, along with new social space, an after-hours cafe and more attention from upperclassmen in their residential halls than they do now?
I don't see the problem. I would have loved to have a social scene like that one when I was a pea-green. I keep hearing people bemoan the idea of changing what they remember as idyllic. Either we go to different schools, or there is a giant range in experiences of first-year students.
This plan is intended to benefit everyone. And I think it will -- if we can let go of the narcissism of not wanting Dartmouth to change. The old way is not necessarily the best, especially if instead of considering one individual experience, we consider that of the average Dartmouth student.
I find it almost humorous that anyone can claim that all 500 signatories of the petition against freshmen dorms read and understood all the implications of this proposal, if only because 500 copies of the report have not been picked up from the Dean's Office by students, and not because the report was too complicated and too new (both of which it was) for such a quick response.
Another protest is that we would give too much power to the administration if it selected the upperclassmen to live in the first-year dorms (from among those who have applied). But who chooses UGAs? Writes recommendations? Confers honors? How could it justify discriminating against a qualified applicant anyway?
I would change one thing about the report's recommendations. The jump from the first year to the second might be better bridged if students knew their cluster affiliations from the moment they stepped on campus. That is to say, Claire Unis '99 might be assigned to live in Little, but her cluster affiliation would be Mass Row. Her neighbors in Little would be moving to Mass Row the following year as well. Mass Row would sponsor events which included the first-year students, so the change would not seem so radical the following year.
Yes, this change limits the amount of choice our little '99 will have. Paradoxically, this limitation is the strength of the idea, because being able to get along with the people you end up with builds community, promotes understanding and broadens one's perspective. Think of DOC Trips. Yale University also uses this model, apparently quite successfully.
Common complaints about Dartmouth include the divisiveness of the students, apathy about important issues, lack of cross-cultural understanding, the D-Plan and its effect on continuity and lack of things to do, especially for first-year students during their first fall.
This plan addresses all of these issues, while also untangling a bunch of the knots in our current housing procedures. And I, for one, am impressed. It is a complex and multifaceted plan, and the administrators, students, and faculty who designed it ought to be commended. There is hope for a community at Dartmouth after all.
