5. Residential Life

Q: Last spring, the so-called "Wright Report" on residential life made several proposals to restructure campus life. How many of those recommendations have been implemented?

A: Right now, that report is still being discussed. We are, however, moving ahead most rapidly on one of the report's recommendations—the alcohol issue.

To answer you more fully, let me address it from a historical perspective. I don't know if residential life at the College is being restructured so much as it is being developed. By the late Seventies, the Dartmouth residential environment was severely stressed by unforeseen circumstances. One of these was the D-Plan; one third of the students came and went each term, four times a year. Secondly, there was a physical deterioration of the residence halls and the fraternity houses. We also witnessed the development of a social environment that wasn't comfortable for the great many students who chose not to join the fraternity- sorority system.

We are attempting to address as many of those problems as we can. It is my hope that students who come to Dartmouth College not only acquire the finest education but also have the opportunity to develop as moral and mature young people who will make contributions to society that reflect not only what they learned in the classroom but also what they learned outside of the classroom. Previous generations of Dartmouth students somehow got that through a combination of activities and structures that were unique to their particular generation.

Q: What is it about today's students that prompted a new look at the residential life system?

A: This generation needs to have an environment that allows for the free exchange of ideas—an environment that provides opportunities for students to learn from each other. To this end, we've improved our dorms by providing study and social spaces. We've also developed a faculty masters program. There is now improved continuity because the D-Plan was changed. In the near future it is likely that returning sophomores will be given more housing priority.

The indicators are that residential life is coming alive. I think if you were to ask students who were here six years ago to come back and see what is happening in the residence halls, I think they would be impressed by the amount of constructive activity.

Q: Why are single-sex dorms being eliminated?

A: Better than 95 percent of incoming students express a preference for coed housing. Coed housing at Dartmouth means men and women living in a building that is single-sex by floor. This is very important for two reasons. First, it allows men and women to live in residence groups by themselves, free from the intrusion of the opposite sex, but it also puts men and women in the same building so there is social and academic interaction. For historical reasons, we simply have not been able to provide more coed housing, but it is our intention to shift the assignment of students in residence halls to accommodate that.

Q: What are your feelings about deferring fraternity-sorority rush until the sophomore year?

A: I think the later the rush occurs in the sophomore year, the more it affects the houses. Should rush be moved to spring term, clearly there will be an adverse financial effect on the houses. I have heard more favorable comments about a rush in the winter or fall term—the financial implications are less. One of the problems with a fall rush, however, is that, as we build residential continuity and have sophomores returning to their dorm clusters, you don't want them running out of the clusters and spending their time in the fraternity houses.

Q: What is the status of the proposed student center?

A: Over the course of this year, committees will be answering questions such as, "Do we need a campus center, and if we do need one, what kind of priority should it receive in terms of time and resources?" There are departments and classrooms at Dartmouth College that need attention, and they need attention now. The faculty has legitimate concerns that resources be directed to those areas, to research, and to teaching.

Over the past five years, the College has been quite generous by giving the residential centers and the athletic facilities badly needed attention. While there is still room for improvement in residential life, it is time to broaden the capital improvement agenda to include some more important projects.