Hanging in the entryway of North Fayerweather, a green and white board displays records, accumulated by its residents across multiple sports and years. It is evidence of a sense of community that once flourished amongst residence halls, rather than Greek houses.
Proposals currently under review from the residential education director Michael Wooten would allow the Class of 2018 to live in housing clusters modeled off existing affinity housing but centered around STEM subjects, entrepreneurship and the arts. Though still several steps away from the residential college systems that characterize many of Dartmouth’s peer institutions, it is an admitted attempt to increase continuity in living experience across all four years.
With a large Greek system and a enrollment pattern that sees students flipping back and forth between campus and off-terms every 10 weeks, campus housing is often a transient experience. Students rarely feel any special connection to places they live.
In the early days, students and faculty all lived, studied and ate in Dartmouth Hall, the College’s only building at that point. As the school expanded, separate facilities were built. Beginning in the 1930s, several universities around the United States reorganized to a model of an all-in-one living and learning residential college system based on Oxford University and Cambridge University. Recently, institutions have attempted to use the residential college system as a way to counteract Greek life or other exclusive social activities.
In 2007, Princeton University expanded its existing residential college system as alternatives to the exclusive eating clubs that many upperclassmen joined. However, because living in a residential college requires an eating plan, many students that join eating clubs move into separate upperclassman housing outside of the residential college system, creating further division between those who chose to participate in the eating clubs and those who do not.
Residential colleges, however, are an important aspect of social life at Princeton, offering gatherings, trips, lectures, performances and dining halls.
Princeton junior Valentin Hernandez explained the role that the communities play in social interactions.
“Social life, in terms of going out, was more focused around eating clubs,” he said. “However, you become close with people in residential colleges. It forms one facet of the social life. The eating clubs are a different aspect.”
At Harvard University, students enter colleges as sophomores and live there for the next three years. While students used to have some say in which house they joined, the university now randomly assigns housing groups of up to seven people.
Tanner Skenderian, a sophomore, explained that the diversity in the houses now reflects the student body of Harvard as a whole.
“I find Harvard very diverse, and the houses reflect that,” she said.
Harvard offers many of the same structured activities as other schools: faculty lectures, dining, movie nights, coffee houses, presentations and exhibitions. Skenderian added that houses have different common areas that are used to host parties.
“Mather House has larger common spaces, so the capability to host a lot of more people,” she said. “It has a reputation of being a more party house. Currier has awesome senior housing so they have a lot of parties there.”
Skenderian said that while finals clubs are a large presence, those not involved or not interested find plenty to do at night in houses. While finals clubs often host bigger parties, dorm parties are just as popular. Skenderian found that while younger female students preferred the scene at finals clubs, many upperclassmen frequented houses or sorority spaces.
So what about Dartmouth? Could a transition to a residential college system provide an alternative to the stronghold of the Greek system? Residential education at the College emphasizes building community in freshman housing clusters. UGAs host weekly floor meetings and events on the weekend.
Gustavo Mercado ’16, a UGA in the Choates cluster, said these activities focus more on building community than providing alternatives to Greek life.
The Hopkins Center, Collis After Dark and Programming Board also offer frequent activities on the weekends. UGAs refer students to these organizations rather than holding activities in the dorms.
Mercado said spending time outside of the dorm community is important to expand circles of friends.
“I don’t know if [the residential college system] would be the best idea,” he said. “Getting out there and meeting new people is important.”
Mercado added that an optional residential college system could be beneficial to those looking for a community.
Dartmouth has experimented with the residential college model in East Wheelock, which provides special programming including guest lectures, dinners and luncheons in addition to regular residential offerings.
“East Wheelock was in its conception a version of a residential college,” Wooten said. “You can live there for four years, and there are a number of faculty associated with the program.”
This programming has been relatively successful in building community.
Sean Cann ’17 said that while he had only attended a couple of events in East Wheelock, the structure and location of the cluster fostered community.
“We have nice dorms with common rooms and singles,” Cann said. “Common rooms and study rooms offer a place to hang out and do something without going out.”
Because of the D-Plan and the lack of available real estate, switching entirely to a residential college system seems difficult here. With the student population constantly fluctuating, difficulties may arise in keeping people in the same dorms for four years. Additionally, students prefer some dorm locations to others. No one on campus would appreciate being stuck in the River cluster for four years while peers got to live in New Hamp.
The current model of upperclassman housing frustrates students, who complain that the sense of the community in dorms disintegrates almost completely after freshman year.
Wooten said he hopes residential life will integrate more living and learning opportunities.
“I want to invest in experience that is deepening community outside of formal academic setting,” he said. “It is important that you are not cliquing off the academic and intellectual experience here. Here you are expecting interfacing and interacting. That needs to be happening more in residential spaces.”
With the current residential system, many students turn to other social outlets, primarily the Greek system. At schools like Harvard and Princeton, the residential college system adds a new social dynamic without harming existing communities. If implemented right, both Greek and non-Greek students at the College may have a more dynamic social life with multiple outlets with residential colleges. A popular complaint of Dartmouth’s social scene is its monotony, and residential colleges could be part of the solution.
