The housing crunch is back. Instead of giving rising seniors the choice of where to live, the Office of Residential Life is making the choice for them -- a third of the Class of 2009 will be forced to live off campus. The lucky ones would have chosen to do so anyway; meanwhile, the not-so-lucky ones may try to gamble for either a room draw miracle or a last-minute off-campus housing find. Hordes of students will find themselves facing a saturated off-campus housing market and the possibility of increased rent prices and living miles away from Hanover.
This problem spans beyond the Class of 2009. As the College continues to renovate housing, it will close down dormitories for a year. The Class of 2010, for example, will enjoy its senior year without the 247-bed Mass Row buildings. Additionally, all students who graduate a year late are ineligible for on-campus housing. The housing crunch will not go away anytime soon, and so the problems that exist next year will continue -- if not worsen -- for many years to come.
Here are seven suggestions to relieve the housing crunch. They vary in terms of viability and difficulty; some are shorter-term dilatory measures, while others are more long-term in scope. They address the rising housing demand by retaining current housing spaces, creating new ones and encouraging off-campus learning.
First: postpone the reduction in housing spaces until the crunch can be reduced. This would include delaying the shorter-term demolition of the Lodge and Brewster (88 beds total), the longer-term razing of the freshman River and Choates dorms (490 beds) and the construction of non-dormitory buildings that would replace the housing. Additionally, postpone the renovation of existing dorms, such as Mass Row.
Second: create temporary housing. Although Treehouse-quality housing may incur mixed opinions, a sufficient number of students would likely choose sub-par on-campus housing over no on-campus housing at all. Let students have that choice.
Third: build dorms with more than four floors. If the College is constrained by too little building space and too many students, then the next logical step would be to expand vertically. If each additional floor could house about 20 additional beds, four additional floors distributed throughout the campus would be the rough equivalent of a standard dorm. If the College can work with the Town of Hanover to allow construction of bigger dormitories, we could house more students with the same amount of building space.
Fourth: expand off-campus programs. By creating and encouraging more students to go abroad (through FSPs, the Twelve College Exchange and independently sought programs), students who want to study abroad would have an easier time doing so, while those who wish to stay on campus would enjoy less overcrowding.
Fifth: consider instituting an optional year of off-campus service for incoming freshmen. Princeton plans to implement such a program in 2009, and expects at least 10 percent of its incoming students to participate in it. If Dartmouth were to adopt this program, then our campus would immediately have roughly 100 fewer students on campus. Encouraging enrollment deferrals would provide a short-term housing reprieve.
Sixth: grant course credit for internships. Colleges across the country such as Cornell, Georgetown and the University of Michigan award credits to students who engage in substantive, department-approved work. In addition to advancing one's educational experience and career exploration, the off-campus program rationale also applies here: If students can gain course credits off campus, then they may not have to spend an extra term in Hanover.
Seventh: improve Summer term offerings on campus, creating a viable alternative for all non-sophomores who wish to switch their Dartmouth Plans and stockpile credits. The Summer term remains the one time of the year when we still have excess housing, and so some students may wish to remain in Hanover and postpone a leave term if they are unable to obtain an ideal summer job. More summer students means fewer students on campus during busier terms.
The College should make reducing the housing crunch a top priority. I invite others to present ideas, and I also encourage the administration to work with the Student Assembly and other interested students to discuss more constructive alternative solutions.
