Treehouses Solve Crunch

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "Outside of the booms, it's a massive garden cocktail party. Inside the booms—where the boats race—it is a gladiatorial death-match." —HEAVYWEIGHT CREW COACH SCOTT ARMSTRONG, ON WINNING THE HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA ON THE THAMES RIVER IN JULY

WITH NO ROOMS AVAILABLE IN THE dorms for about 130 sophomores this fall, the College erected six temporary modular housing units on the lawn in front of the River Cluster dorms.

Forty-two sophomores moved into three of the units just before classes started September 25. Another three units were scheduled for completion in October, to house 42 students who had been living in converted dorm lounges or offcampus apartments usually rented to faculty or staff.

With another two to three permanent residence halls planned for the North Campus in 2004 (see story, page 25), the Colleges purchase of temporary housing units may seem unnecessary. However, they alleviate a housing crunch created by a sudden increase in fall enrollment. When the percentage of accepted freshmen choosing to attend Dartmouth this fall jumped from the expected 49 to 52 percent, it was not just a good thing. It was a big thing—the 3 percent increase brought 71 more students to campus than anticipated. Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg expected 1,075 students to join the class of 2005. The 1,146 students he got surprised everyone. "What is most encouraging is that the yield for students of color increased dramatically," Furstenberg says. "This is the most diverse class in Dartmouth's history. It's mostly a good news story."

The bad news: More freshmen means less fall-term housing for everyone else. The College guarantees fall housing to all first-year, transfer and exchange students. Remaining on-campus housing is distributed among upperclassmen during the spring room draw. The housing priority system favors rising seniors, then juniors and finally sophomores, who sometimes find themselves wait-listed through the summer.

The waiting list typically dwindles as some students make the fall their leaveterm or find rooms off-campus or in Greek and affinity housing. Occasionally lounges or study rooms in residence halls are converted into dorm rooms.

This year, the housing crunch reached a crisis point, leaving 132 sophomores without a place to live in September. Additionally, a tight local housing market made finding off-campus housing difficult.

"Students are competing for a bed,not a particular place to live," says Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum. "That's not the way it's supposed to be."

In an effort to alleviate the housing crunch, the admissions office offered the '05s an incentive to defer matriculation for a year: Students choosing to enroll with the class of 2006 would not be charged for first-year housing, a savings of $5,000.

Thirty-nine students chose the deferred enrollment. However, Furstenberg says, roughly 26 of these students had already considered deferring, even without the College's offer, so the incentive generated only about 13 more deferrals than usual.

To house 84 of the remaining sophomores, Dartmouth spent $1 million for the six modular units, which will be occupied for the next decade. Each twostory unit houses 14 students in oneroom doubles that are furnished like normal dorm rooms, with a bathroom on each floor and a common lounge and study space on the first floor. (Those who didn't get into the modular units will continue sleeping in converted lounges or offcampus apartments.)

The College named the six units The Treehouses—Spruce, Pine, Maple, Oak, Elm and Birch—and residents will receive T-shirts with the slogan "I live in a treehouse!" "We thought they were the most innocuous names considered, and kind of fun," Rosenblum says. "We wouldn't want to offend anyone if we named them after someone."

The crunch is not expected to ease anytime soon. "We expect the spring to be just as bad," says Rosenblum. To avoid a similar housing problem next year, Furstenberg says, admissions will probably aim for a smaller class of about 1,050, including those who deferred this year.

Home Sweet Home Temporarystudent housing, dubbed the Treehouses, was erected in September.