McCulloch Hall, one of the newest residential buildings on campus, will soon become the home for French and Italian affinity housing on campus. Starting next Fall term, up to two suites in the dormitory will be occupied by French and Italian speaking students.
Under the current arrangement, Italian speakers have no affinity housing of their own, though French speakers can apply to live in the Francophone House on North Park Street.
However, the pending relocation of the Francophone House -- which will be moved this summer to make room for graduate housing on the same site -- prompted a search for a new space that could accommodate students interested in speaking either language.
"We're just changing spaces because we lost the 'maison,'"said Carol Peper, administrative assistant to the French and Italian department. "There has been a huge increase in Italian language study at Dartmouth, and we're hoping if there is sufficient interest to have a suite for each language."
Peper explained that the amount of space in McCulloch designated as affinity housing is dependent on the number of applications, which must be submitted by as soon as April 10.
Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman, who offered McCulloch for use by the French and Italian Department, said that he anticipated anywhere between 6 and 15 students admitted to the program, adding that "if the department can't fill the space, they lose the space."
Redman said that McCulloch was chosen primarily because of its unique interior layout, which contains large lounge spaces and suites that "create the privacy students need for language acquisition."
Other considered choices, including the Tree Houses in the River Cluster and nearby apartments, were deemed unsuitable spaces for the program, while Redman said he was unwilling to take away another of the high-demand senior apartments in Maxwell and Channing Cox, many of which are already reserved for other programs.
According to Redman, Professor of French and Italian John Rassias led the move to acquire new space and had long appreciated the value of an individual house in promoting language immersion. However, Redman said Rassias felt the existing building was too far from the center of campus.
When it became clear that the Francophone house could not be moved to any nearer location, due to space constraints, Redman suggested McCulloch Hall, and led a group of interested French and Italian department members, including Rassias, on a tour of the facility.
"We talked about the pros and cons of the move and in the end [the faculty members] were quite pleased," Redman said.
Questions still remain as to how the new affinity housing will affect the workings of the tightly-knit East Wheelock Cluster, of which McCulloch is a part.
"I think the larger potential negative impact is on the members of the affinity houses," Redman said. "It becomes difficult when there are people who aren't part of the program living in the same space."
The new affinity housing is unlikely to have any significant impact on the current campus housing crunch, according to Redman.
Although "students may not perceive that things are getting better," he said, the addition of the Tree Houses has for now alleviated the worst of the housing shortage, and the loss of the small Francophone House should not have any appreciable effect on the overall situation.
The move to McCulloch will not be permanent, however: after two or three years, the housing may move to the planned dormitories on Maynard Street. Plans for any similarly-sized replacements for the Francophone House, which will be relocated to become off-campus housing for faculty members and others, are not on the table.
"We are just not in a position to have more free stand-alone buildings," Redman said, citing maintenance costs and space constraints as limiting factors.
Redman said that the new location, though it does not have the same atmosphere as an individual house, will enable faculty and students to make better use of cluster resources, including Brace Commons, for department-sponsored events open to the campus.
