The reports differ from rumor to rumor, some even going as far as to dub East Wheelock cluster residents as prima donnas who lead sheltered lives of decadent luxury. For the greater Dartmouth community, the goings-on of the residents of this academically-oriented set of buildings remain largely unknown.
Wheelock has been mentioned in the same breath as private bidets and in-room maid service; however, no such perks actually exist. Resident Smita Reddy '05 cited the "Wheelock stigma" as the worst part of life in East Wheelock. "There's a stigma that says East Wheelock students never leave their rooms, like it's the Hotel Wheelock," she said. Despite this reservation, Reddy and Kori Yee-Litt '05 cited excellent rooms as the best part of their Wheelock experience.
Despite the privacy and size of the rooms, sound insulation has proven a problem. "You can hear every sound your neighbors make," Reddy said of East Wheelock's notoriously thin walls.
The four dormitories of East Wheelock offer numerous amenities, namely, new facilities, private bathrooms and a snack bar.
"A sense of community develops where people eat," East Wheelock dean Steven Cornish said of the snack bar.
Reddy viewed the snack bar as a convenience: "It's good for a late night snack if you want to get a soda or a brownie."
The large public rooms of McCulloch Hall and the expensive lighting arrangement in Brace Commons are other prominent features of East Wheelock's generally superior accommodations.
Although Cornish said that Wheelock has no formal maid service, some say there substance to the rumors. Yee-Litt noted a higher level of janitorial assiduity than elsewhere on campus: "they clean our [private] bathrooms and empty our trash," she said. Both Yee-Litt and Reddy reported instances of janitors actually vacuuming students' rooms.
However, Cornish generally downplayed the material superiority of the Wheelock buildings, stating that "the bathrooms are a social detriment," and adding that the provision for private bathrooms was not part of how the Wheelock cluster was originally planned. He dismissed the superiority of the facilities as the inevitable result of new construction rather than preferential treatment. Cornish cited accessible faculty members as the fundamental difference between East Wheelock dorms and other residence halls.
"Faculty involvement ... gives students easier access to faculty [and] breaks down the barriers," Cornish said.
Yee-Litt approved of the extensive faculty presence within the Wheelock community. "They offer a lot of programs, and every couple of days they have something going on." In addition to facilitating East Wheelock receptions for performers from the Hopkins Center, Cluster community managers have recently organized trips to Montreal and Boston.
The East Wheelock cluster was the first on campus to receive a full-time dean. The dean serves as both an administrator and a faculty advisor.
"As the dean, I tend to do the academic advising," Cornish explained. East Wheelock's model has been emulated by several other clusters, including the River and Choates communities, which now have hired their own cluster deans.
The administrators of the East Wheelock programs have also devised special travel programs for cluster residents. "We have a long history of developing trips," Cornish said, citing a spring break trip to London as an example.
Although the travel programs are open to all students, Cornish said that priority is given to East Wheelock residents.
