Editor's note: This is the seventh in a multi-part series focusing on the future of residential life at Dartmouth.
The new social and residential options the Office of Residential Life plans to offer next fall might mean Webster Ave. will see a lot less traffic in the coming years. With dormitory dance floors and upperclassmen suites, the College hopes that the new residence halls will bring social life back to residence halls.
These new residence halls underscore an amplified effort by ORL to expand residential social life in a manner similar to that of the East Wheelock cluster, which has tried to integrate students' social and intellectual lives in a residential space since 1996 through community dinners, guest lecturers and faculty advisors. Next year's program to incorporate sophomore advising in the Fayerweathers residence halls contributes to this effort.
Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said he hopes that social spaces in the new residence halls will allow students to "have parties, host lectures and cook spaghetti dinner together."
Whether the residence halls will provide a social culture similar to that of East Wheelock remains to be seen until the new residence halls begin operating next year.
Sravya Chivukula '08, a resident of McCulloch Hall, which is part of East Wheelock, said she thinks the new dorms will "definitely have their own cultures because the way they're set up is completely different."
"I'm not sure if they'll provide an alternative social scene or not because it completely depends on the students who live there," Chivukula said.
Many East Wheelock residents feel that implementation of residential programs mirroring their own would be a positive change in the Dartmouth social scene. Andres Hall resident Katie Cronk '08 said that although East Wheelock is "certainly perceived as having its own culture," residents still participate in mainstream social options as well as more dorm-centric activities.
"Most people think that East Wheelock is the more studious, boring cluster," Cronk said. "I don't consider it boring. We still watch movies together, make brownies and go to the frats."
The idea of mainstream social culture, however, continues to produce arguments on both sides.
Nick Weir '09, for example, said he would never choose to live there because of "the whole seclusion from the rest of campus and having your social thing around the dorm instead of the rest of school."
Lindsey Larson '07 added, "As far as [East Wheelock] being a 'less mainstream' experience, what is mainstream here? I just like having a single the size of most doubles, and the private bathroom is pretty sick," she said. "During finals one might be surprised to witness a small hoard of Alpha Deltas commandeering a study room or a lone, supersweet campus icon, perhaps lost on the edge of campus, buying food from the snackbar."
East Wheelock's social spaces such as Brace Commons provide more in-house social options than do most residence halls. Although the common areas in the new dormitories will also provide extensive social spaces, including options such as bamboo dance floors, some students doubt that residents will take advantage of them.
"Please, they don't even use FUEL," Melissa Machaj '07 said in reference to the College-sponsored dance club in the Collis Center basement.
Charlie Stoebe '08, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, felt that the new soundproof suites could effectively decentralize social emphasis on the Greek scene by making room parties more convenient.
"If the room's nicer than the average frat basement, I wouldn't mind staying in rather than making the trek to frat row," he said. "People who are hardcore and only go out to play pong will keep going to frat basements, but people who just go out to socialize and have a beer will be just as well-off in their room."
The introduction of the sophomore advising program, coupled with the opening of the new residence halls, might take away options from those who do not find East Wheelock's style of living appealing. In an effort to integrate students' residential experiences with their academic ones, faculty members will live in the soon-to-be exclusively sophomore Fayerweather residence halls to make them easily accessible for sophomore advising -- whether students want them there or not.
"There is no way that I or any other freshman would want faculty members living in the Fayers next year," Dan Josebachvili '09 said. "I also highly doubt that any faculty member would want to live in that sort of atmosphere. It would be incredibly awkward."
Cronk said that having faculty members living in the residence hall does change the cluster's atmosphere.
"As a general rule, East Wheelock students are more respectful of their space and aren't as rambunctious," she said.
She added that the advisors are not out to catch people misbehaving and understand that "this is still a college."
Chris Bertrand '07, a member of the committee that is overseeing the program's inception and an undergraduate advisor in Mid Fayerweather Hall, said that the presence of adults will not detract from the social atmosphere.
"I don't think the Fayers will be excluded from normal dormitory social life," he said. "The only difference is that there will be an in-house academic advising component -- not an academic culture."
Bertrand added that because this is a pilot program, its efficacy will be closely tracked.
