At this moment, I am in a very awkward position. Although I have committed to write an article about the best kept secret on campus, I am reluctant to state all the wonders of Foley House for fear of losing my spot in the spring. That's the beauty of 20 West Street -- once you discover it, you wonder where it's been all of your Dartmouth career, but you also gain the desire to keep it a secret from the general public.
History
Foley House began as a fraternity, Epsilon Kappa Phi, which was founded in 1920 and resided in the present-day KDE house. The fraternity gave up its Greek affiliation because the fraternity system was no longer congruent with its progressive values. Foley House, named after well-liked advisor Alan Foley, was created in its stead in 1966. Foley House was the first Dartmouth organization to advocate against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Foley admitted female transfer students even before co-education at Dartmouth. Only in 1982 did Foley move to its current location on the corner of West and Maple streets.
Purpose
Foley House is an affinity program, but is not academically affiliated. Foley's program statement declares, "Foley House strives to be the healthiest, most stimulating and engaging residential environment on the Dartmouth campus. By cooking and eating together, and sharing household chores, a bank account, a phone line and a television, Foley residents form important, lasting relationships." Foleyites practice communal living by cooking for each other five nights a week, keeping the house (relatively) clean through weekly chores, and reaching out to the Dartmouth community by inviting professors and other students to dinners. Foley thus becomes the perfect step between on- and off-campus life with the added bonus of feeling welcome and important to a community.
Now this is all well and good, but on paper and in conversation, Foley House seems to fall into the nebulous void of broad feel-good concepts. "What makes it different from another affinity house?" my friends ask. "Why wouldn't you just live off campus and still make meals for yourselves?" my cheap parents whine. I try to articulate that Foley is more than dinners or academic programs, and my conversational partners usually look at me like a confused puppy. "It's like the hippie house on campus," I finally concede, and many people nod in agreement.
Others still don't get it, and so I'm left with no choice but to invite them over for dinner. If I'm wearing my sassy pants I might invite them over to help me cook dinner, which gives them a better idea of the mystery of Foley.
Foleyite Diet
A Foley dinner is one you have to experience to understand. The Foleyite chef-of-the-day spends a few hours chopping eggplant or Cabot cheese (sometimes during the summer s/he is in various states of undress) and other Foleyites trickle into the house, back from long days. Usually the newly-returned Foleyite will pick up a cheese grater and help prepare dinner, going over the highs and lows of the day. Dinner can be anything from mac and cheese to spanikopita to crepes to pancakes. A common fear is that you'll be chastised for your lack of cooking skills if you live in Foley; However, the truth of the matter is Foleyites are generally appreciative of most efforts and will eat almost anything.
Especially cheese. As Jerome Tufte '07 states, "[I do] way more than my part to finish the three-pound block [of cheese] we buy twice a week." Dinners are more social occasions than "Top Chef" competitions. Foley meetings are held at dinner and many times residents stay after all the food as been consumed and chat for an hour or so while getting over the lovely food-induced coma.
Foley Habitat
Exploring Foley's "crib" reveals other gems of the Foley experience. Arguably the best asset of Foley is the kitchen. As Noah Hall '07 states, "The best room in Foley is the kitchen/living room, because that's where most of the stuff that makes Foley so great happens -- cooking, dinner and just general hanging out, plus there's a fireplace." A fireplace you can light, no less.
Other perks include a hammock, a quasi-secret back porch, a secret rendezvous staircase to the two-room double, and a roof you can easily sleep on. There is also the basement, which has a door and musty mattresses, if ever you need a room for your visiting family. The bedrooms each have their own charm and feel, and most rooms are singles.
Foley Faith
Once initiated into the clan of Foley, Foleyites are very faithful to their house. Tufte explains how he was originally placed in Foley because of a low housing number, but then felt a connection to the house: "At first I lived here 'cause I had to, basically. Now I live here because it's the awesomeness," he says.
Personally, I could only be pulled away to be a UGA, otherwise I could see myself living there indefinitely. Katrina Roi '08 reiterates my dedication: "How are you going to get me to leave?"
What would a Foleyite do for Foley, you ask? How deep is our love? Emily Jones '08 makes it very clear: "I would super-senior it for Foley."
Foley Traditions
Foley offers various yearly traditions, such as an Easter Egg Hunt and a Kentucky Derby get-together. There are also daily traditions, such as Cabot cheese feasts and tea on the back porch. A timeless Foley tradition is, as Jeremy Rohrlich '07, states, "competition with the furiously inferior Panarchists."
Panarchy and Foley House have been competing in levels of awesomeness for the last decade. Foley House has a lovely wooden sheep that is often pilfered by the Panarchists. Of course, this sets up a cycle of stealing and restealing said sheep, to the point where no one involved seems to know when this tradition originated.At the moment, the sheep is MIA after it was stolen by Panarchy during summer/fall interim. Tufte states, "Panarchy used to take pride in its role in the tug-of-war stealing match over the sheep. Now they've just taken it and hidden it away ... I guess most of the people there now just don't remember the dignified creativity with which their predecessors handled the situation. It seems distinctly possible that Panarchy is on a mission to kill fun right now. And it's just a shame that they'd take an innocent thing like the sheep down with it."
So, let this be a warning to you, Panarchists. Stop your tripping for a moment to place the sheep in a visible place. It's all for love of the game!
Foley Applications
So, now you've learned of Foley's dinners, sheep, fireplace and camaraderie, and you want to apply. The application is as simple as answering a few questions and your housing questionnaire., but our qualifications are pretty steep. Kate Breeding '08 states that new members "must be supple, and they also must like communism because we are a co-op." So, only the strong-willed should apply (read: Don't all apply because I'll lose my spot!).
In all honesty, Foley House has given me a sense of purpose and community at Dartmouth that I never felt before, and I would recommend the house to anyone. Or at least come to dinner. I'm making fondue and you're invited.
