The Spanish question "No quieres sentir?" directly translates to "Don't you want to feel?"
For someone who doesn't know Spanish, this question might have carried an unintentionally insinuative undertone. For someone only somewhat conversant in Spanish but also unaware of La Casa's commitment to providing a no-pressure learning experience for its residents, the question might have even inspired an open-palmed reprimand. Luckily for Riley Kane '12, I was neither of those. So when he asked me the question while simultaneously offering his seat during a leisurely board game with his housemates, I knew what he had meant to say.
"Sentar," I laughed. "The word for to sit' is sentar."
Four out of five letters is a fantastic start, if you ask me.
A welcoming community like the one I encountered at La Casa seems to define many of the affinity houses. The affinity house program stands 14 houses and floors strong in its quest to offer "educationally-purposeful living opportunities," according to the Office of Residential Life's website. Residents unite under one roof to explore any number of interests, from speaking French to living sustainably.
"The Dartmouth affinities actually figured into my decision to apply to Dartmouth," Anna Lynn Doster '12, who lives in the Chinese Language House, said. "Because I only had the opportunity to start Chinese in college, I knew I needed an immersed environment as soon as possible."
Doster has lived in the Chinese Language House since her sophomore year and currently serves as the house's undergraduate advisor.
Aside from the unique educational dynamic, many students are drawn to affinity houses in search of community. For them, finding a social niche at Dartmouth means reaching beyond day-to-day campus interactions it means finding a tangible comfort zone, a place they can truly come home to.
"It's exactly what I imagined college life to be," Nerina DiSomma '13, a member of the Foley Cooperative, said. "It's a community of people who are really invested in getting to know each other. You hear about everyone's day, every day."
However, to assume that all members of affinity houses happened upon the opportunity for the "right" reasons would be to make a hasty generalization.
"It was the only place I could get a single as a sophomore," Reed Wommack '14, a resident of the Chinese Language House, said.
Other residents of affinity houses also admitted that their initial attraction to the program came from parental pressures to maintain their language skills or from limited housing choices due to a terrible housing number.
Herein lies the divide between occupants who truly immerse themselves in the affinity community and those who see their house simply as a place to sleep at night. Joining an affinity rarely results in a complete divorce from the larger Dartmouth society, but certainly serves as more of a niche than the typical upperclassman residence hall.
"It's a personal choice to self-segregate," Kathleen Dobell '14, who lives in the Sustainable Living Center, said. "[Students who choose to self-segregate] would be doing that whether or not they were in an affinity house."
Case in point: Ana Sofia De Brito '12. This term marks the third year of her residence at the Latin American, Latino and Caribbean House. Amidst the hum of friendly exchanges at last week's affinity house cookout, De Brito was quick to announce that she had generally confined her social experiences at Dartmouth to the relationships fostered between her housemates.
"I do feel like I'm separated [from the Dartmouth community]," she said. "My entire Dartmouth experience has revolved around LALACS. If I didn't have it, I'd be stuck in a dorm, in a room, by myself."
Who can blame her? The abrupt termination of organized bonding experiences between floormates after freshman year is all too common. The majority of upperclassmen who choose to live in a residence hall are primarily left to their own devices, rarely making use of shared living spaces in order to interact with others.
"Bringing communities together in affinities is much easier than bringing communities together in dorms," Jenny Thapa '12, La Casa's undergraduate advisor, said. "Residents choose to be there. They all have something in common, whereas in the dorms, finding something they all enjoy is more difficult."
College administrators clearly value these close-knit communities, often citing their positive contributions to the greater student population. This term, for example, administrators have been supportive of the campus LGBTQ community's push for an affinity house.
Other universities, however, are vehemently opposed to the idea of an affinity program. Bowdoin College, for example, has not allowed the chartering of affinity houses since 1997, when its Board of Trustees approved the Commission on Residential Life's rejection of "theme or affinity-based housing at Bowdoin," The Bowdoin Orient previously reported. Instead, the Commission established that Bowdoin's residential life should be "based on a model of broad House membership that includes all students," according to the university's Residential Life website.
When this point was raised at the LALACS cookout, a number of affinity residents couldn't help putting down their half-eaten burgers to speak out.
"I strongly disagree with Bowdoin's affinity policies," David Dulceany '11 said. "[La Casa] is a space for students in terms of language, it's an academic space and it's a social space all at once."
He argued that language-based affinity programs fill a gap in students' college experiences.
"If there weren't an affinity house, [students] wouldn't get an opportunity to truly immerse themselves in the Spanish-speaking world," he added. "A Spanish club wouldn't do the same as a Spanish house."
La Casa resident Adam Kraus '14 also rejects the idea that affinity programs promote exclusivity, which is often voiced in opposition to affinity programs.
"Friends come in and out all the time," Kraus said. "Our events are completely open there's a blitz list for it and everything. It's really not meant to be exclusive."
DiSomma echoed this sentiment, citing the open-door policy at the Foley Cooperative during meal times.
"Anyone is welcome to come to our dinners," DiSomma said. "Usually the response is, Ugh, at Foley? That's so far!' But I'm offering to cook you dinner. How could you refuse?"
Many residents interviewed by The Mirror also noted the distinction between affinity houses based on a cultural identification and those based on shared interests.
"Often, houses based on ethnicity or languages tend to keep to themselves," said Piotr Teterwak '14, a resident of the Sustainable Living Center. "It almost counters Dartmouth's purpose in admitting such a diverse community to the College."
Due to such self-segregation, Bowdoin may be justified in its banning of such culture-based affinity programs, he said.
Though the extent to which affinity-based relationships replace one's connection to Dartmouth as a whole varies, one glittering generality seems to apply to every affinity house: the uniting power of food.
"At least we don't have to deal with DDS," Teterwak said.
