Dartmouth considers itself a residential college. Theoretically, all students should be able to live in either college dormitories, Greek or affinity houses.
Dartmouth also is one of the most financially-sound colleges in the country. So why hasn't Dartmouth committed itself to housing students for all four years on campus?
Next fall, several hundred students could find themselves without housing. They will have been shut out by the Office of Residential Life, will have come too late to look for housing off-campus and, therefore, will be forced to scramble around to find a room ... any room.
The housing process at Dartmouth is inherently flawed. Freshmen are guaranteed housing, a positive aspect of the process. Most people would argue that it is important for freshmen to be located in the dorms during their first-year. However, an equally strong argument can be made for seniors. The real benefits of living in the dorms are computer hook-up, nice facilities, programming events and janitorial services. These aspects of dorm life are every bit as important for a sophomore, junior or senior as they are for a freshman.
In addition, seniors are in the same situation as freshmen in that they are on-campus for three consecutive terms. While I would be the first to argue that the benefits of the UGA experience and exposure to general college life mandate the need for freshmen to be given guaranteed housing, there are equally compelling reasons to give seniors guaranteed housing.
In addition to the fact that they will spend three consecutive terms on-campus, many seniors need frequent access to the computer network to work on theses or search the Career Services' bulletin for job listings. Also, giving priority to seniors guarantees that a student will not be denied housing more than once or twice in their Dartmouth career.
A school of Dartmouth's size and space has no excuse for not having the dormitory space needed for all students. There are many locations where a new dorm could be built, namely in the East Wheelock cluster, the River Cluster or down by the old hospital. ORL claims that a new dorm is not needed, plenty of rooms exist in the winter and spring. If this is true, how come I hear story after story of students returning to campus in the winter or spring and not receiving housing?
To date, I have shelled out somewhere in the vicinity of $75,000 to Dartmouth. One would think that the College could guarantee me a room. It is not as if the College is running a philanthropic service - Dartmouth charges higher rents than many surrounding apartments and houses.
Is a new dorm financially feasible? Of course it is. We could start by diverting funds from the proposed North campus. Too often, quality of life considerations are ancillary to considerations of expansion.
A new dorm would not only alleviate the housing shortage, it would enable the College to change some of those awful two-room triples into doubles. In addition, it would save ORL hours of sorting through housing waiting lists and fielding phone calls from disgruntled students.
Another problem with housing is this whole process of random cluster assignments. What is the rationale for this? Why is a cluster different from a room? Seniors should have priority for cluster assignments as well as room assignments. If the idea is to give seniors an advantage, it is ironic that many seniors receive the hollow victory of a high room number coupled with a cluster number that can't even land them in the Lodge. It is also frustrating to be told to move off-campus for three consecutive terms when someone else gets a room for only one term.
The overall quality of Dartmouth housing is fine. It is the process of allocating housing that needs to be amended. The ideal situation would be the construction of a new dorm. At the very least, the priority system should be altered so that seniors are given priority in all aspects of the process. The current system is too arbitrary and the available housing is inadequate for a school of Dartmouth's size and financial resources.
