Since the University decided to eliminate first-year students’ choice between living in Alderman or McCormick dormitories, the new system has been met with mixed reviews.
Resident Staff Co-Chair Ian Flanagan explained the change, implemented this fall, is part of an “ongoing process” in which housing is “gradually narrowing” the options students have in selecting their first-year housing. He said that in previous years, students could go so far as to choose the building and floor where they wanted to live. As a result, Flanagan said, “artificial communities” were created.
This year, incoming first-year students were only able to choose between the traditional “first-year student experience” by living in first-year dorms or a residential college experience by living in Brown College, Hereford College or the International Residential College.
“One of the goals [of the change] was to provide a much more diverse community in which to live,” Flanagan said, noting that much of what students learn in college comes from the community around them and not just the classroom experience.
He noted that stereotypes about the types of people living in McCormick Road versus Alderman Road developed over time and are “part of the reason the change was made was to eliminate the ability for those stereotypes to exist,” although he said he thinks it will be several years before those stereotypes fade.
Though presupposed ideas about life in Alderman and McCormick dormitories may linger, Flanagan noted that “the opportunities in [first-year student] dorms are consistent” because all of the residents, with the exception of the resident advisors, are first-year students.
Some students, however, suggested the opportunities various first-year living situations provided should not be considered consistent.
Third-year College student Rachel Callah said she requested to live in the suite-style dorms on Alderman Road her first year, as opposed to the hall-style dorms along McCormick Road. She explained that living in a suite had a very positive impact on her first-year student experience, adding that the whole experience “was more intimate” and that she liked having the option to choose between a suite-style and a hall-style residence.
“I wish [first-year students] still had a choice,” she said.
First-year Cristina Mims said she understood “there was a lot of division because there were preconceived notions” about who lived in which area and added that she enjoyed interacting with a diverse group of students. Nevertheless, she noted, “it would be nice to have a choice” about the location in which one lived and the style of the residence hall.
Flanagan said, however, that although there will always be students who prefer suite-style over hall-style and vice versa, eventually all first-year dormitories will be hall-style as the Alderman Road dorms are replaced.
The type of dormitory a student lives in will make a difference in his or her experience, he added, but “what really affects [one’s living experience] is the people who live there and what [a student] makes of it.”
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