Pioneer LogLewis & Clark College’s Student-Run Newspaper

Campus living needs to hear all the voices

September 17, 2010

by Stephen Maxwell

At one point during the first week of this semester, somebody mentioned to me that the school was considering building a new dorm.  “Really?” I gaped unbelievingly.  “How are they possibly going to fill it?  Making students live on campus for a third year?”

As I found out shortly afterward, that really is an option on the table, and until this week it was almost certain.  Growing the campus living program has been a goal of the administration for some time, and this year provides a unique opportunity to finance this dorm with a lot smaller debt than will probably be available for a long time.  So the various administration higher-ups and the board of trustees are naturally jumping on the chance to get this squared away before the price tag becomes nastier.

Dean of Students & Chief Diversity Officer Celestino Limas, always trying passionately to be the conductor for the student’s point of view, has held many, many meetings over the last two weeks in an attempt to measure, manage, and sample the reaction from the student body.  I attended a few of these, and while what I witnessed has been much more reassuring than displeasing, I still believe that this new dormitory is likely (not definitely, as it depends on a few unknowns) to be a profoundly bad idea.

Of course, the benefits of campus living are many and easy to see.  The support network of RAs and ADs, the easy access to evening events, the absence of a commute to classes and the library, all make living here an immeasurably advantageous situation.  And when more of the community is in close quarters instead of scattered about Portland, the entire community benefits in a continuous cycle of reinforcement and feedback. 

But there are also many profound disadvantages to campus living that cannot be ignored.  The experiences of seeking out a place to call your own, choosing between frugality and convenience, and feeling out a neighborhood in the grand city in Portland can be incredibly important steps in transitioning from the half-adult status of students to the realm of a full, actualized adult.

And, as was well put by one Laura Bogar (’12) in this Tuesday’s meeting, there is a notable lack of dignity in campus living.  This is evident in everything from quiet hours, to frequent fire drills, to having your bathroom cleaned for you, to having only 24 hours to move all of your worldly possessions in and out of your room when the school year starts and ends.  Most campus residents have no choice in food, but eat at the same place for nearly every meal over the entire year.   And in some ways most importantly, as a student tenant, you in no way own your own residence, and have little to no sense of having a real home.

On Tuesday, Celestino left us with the impression that the three-year requirement has become much less likely, and that the school will instead choose the route of trying to attract juniors to live on campus.  This is great in theory, and in theory I have no problem with it.  But unless all of the issues I’ve mentioned are somehow addressed (a very tall order), I doubt that the school will be able to attract many more juniors than it currently does.  Some, sure, especially if the all-important issue of affordability is resolved.  But it won’t be enough. 

My great fear is that the school will go ahead and build the dorm, fail to attract enough juniors to fill it, and be forced to implement the three-year requirement anyway to meet budget.  Years down the line, this will only result in resentful juniors and be a disruptive force, marring the excellent campus living program that is being exercised today.

I suspect that a large number of students would agree with me in this, a far larger number than Limas is likely to hear from.  A huge flaw in this series of focus-groups is that they attract a highly skewed data set:  students that love campus living the most are more likely to be involved.  And we are all familiar with the usual problem with LC malcontents: when we find something wrong with the school, we love to complain to our friends, but rarely take the time to convey this to the people in charge.

I say that this needs to change, and now. One quote on the front page of last week’s PioLog is a good example:  Associate Dean of Students Jeffery Feld-Gore has heard from far more students happy with the DSA situation than unhappy. Does this represent what you see in your friend group?  If not, then do something about it. Don’t just let one of the people you know write Celestino a letter about the new dorm, because he can only know the opinion of the people who tell it to him.  Even if you think that I am totally off-base and that the dorm will be wildly successful, write to an administrator.  Because they always need to hear more voices than they do.

And if any members of the administration or board of trustees are reading this, please hear my plea:  Make entirely certain, with as thorough research as you can muster, that there is a bona-fide demand for this empty space you are creating.  Because if you go through with it, and you’re wrong, future generations of LC students will be footing the bill, in more ways than one.