As next year's housing selection draws near, students and administrators are reflecting with mixed reactions to the inaugural year of linked houses.
Although administrators said it is too early to tell whether linked housing is a success, students reported that having friends close by in their quadrangles is a clear benefit. Last year, 765 freshmen chose to link--"or 66 percent of all unaffiliated freshmen.
"You have a wonderful situation on East Campus where you bring an eclectic group of students together who are basically strangers. After a while, relationships develop," said Deb LoBiondo, assistant dean of students, adding that a major goal of linking houses was to allow students to carry the sense of East's all-freshmen community to West Campus.
The system allows each freshman the option to live in a certain quadrangle on West Campus sophomore year with other members of his first-year dormitory. It is part of a wide-ranging residential life plan that also mandates that all sophomores live on West and that the corridor down the center of Main West Campus be reserved for students who are not members of selective living groups.
The idea of linked houses was originally developed by a 2000-2001 task force on residential life chaired by William Chafe, vice provost for undergraduate education.
"So many first year students loved their experience living together on East that we wanted to at least create as one of the structured options for them the chance to stay with the people they lived with their first year," said Chafe, who is also dean of the faculty of arts and sciences.
Sophomore Kevin Riddles, who lived in Brown Dormitory last year, said he linked in part because he liked the community he lived in as a freshman. "One reason [I decided to link] was to stay with the same group of guys I met last year," he said.
Sophomore Dominique Bailey, who also chose to link, said she liked the idea last year, but that her experience this year has not exactly matched her memories of East.
"I don't see anybody from my dorm except the people that I blocked with," she said. "I was going into the whole thing thinking it would be like [my freshman dormitory Gilbert-Addoms] all over again. I don't think it's something that can be consolidated. When you go on West it's a lot larger."
Riddles said the fact that students who chose to link received higher priority in the housing lottery was also a compelling factor for him. Because Brown was linked to Craven Quadrangle, Riddles said the option to live on Main West was a "big plus."
For students whose linked quad was farther from the beaten path, the option was not so clear. Many students, including sophomore Kasey Smith, chose not to link. "Southgate was linked to Edens, so it couldn't get any worse," said Smith, who ended up in the regular lottery and was eventually assigned a room on Main West. "It's a good system but you can't make everybody happy."
Additionally, not all students wanted to remain housed with peers living in the same building. "It was an unfair advantage to people who happened to be friends with the people in their dorms," said sophomore Laura Castaing, who also chose not to link.
LoBiondo noted that even students who choose to link are scattered throughout an entire quad. She said there remains a need for a mechanism to bring those people together-pointing to options like quad dinners held each semester in The Great Hall and programming options exclusively for sophomores.
She added that this semester, freshmen will be invited to dinner with members of the quad where they will have the option to live next year.
"It's hard to measure success when we've done little to no assessment," LoBiondo said. "Anecdotally, my sense is that having all of our sophomores on West has been a positive experience."
LoBiondo said her office has not yet conducted a survey to gauge student satisfaction with linked housing. She said she would eventually like to see rising juniors have priority to remain in their quads next year.
"I would love to see the congruency last another year," LoBiondo said. "It's very valuable to have upperclass students in our residence halls with our sophomores."
Others, though, acknowledge the difficulties of recreating first-year residential life.
Comparing her freshman year experience to this year, Bailey said, "When you're a freshman everything is new and different. You go in there and really don't know anybody. Once you move to West you already have your established friends. In terms of it being a freshman experience all over again, I don't know if it's possible to make West like that."
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