When administrators envisioned the West-Edens Link, they included plans for a new type of common space. The resulting seminar rooms, designed as areas for more focused academic use, are so far drawing mixed reaction from residents.
The rooms, equipped with large tables, whiteboards and bright lighting, are exclusive to the WEL and provide common space for academic endeavors within the dormitory. The rooms have been used primarily for individual or small-group studying, but students also hold house courses and organized group study sessions there on a limited basis.
The rooms were part of a greater emphasis on available common space for WEL residents, said Judith White, director of the Residential Program Review. She suggested that the seminar rooms were an improvement over similar spaces in other dorms on campus.
"There are rooms called study rooms in some of the old residence halls but they are considerably smaller than the minimum 400 square feet in the WEL," White said. A typical study room "is simply a room that is not being used as a bedroom and doesn't have any special lighting," she added.
Residents expressed mixed sentiments regarding their effectiveness as study rooms, though.
Some students valued the available workspace within the seminar rooms, noting that the whiteboards are beneficial to group studying. Others touted their convenient location within the WEL.
"It is much easier to go up a flight of stairs, as opposed to going to a building on the main quad," said sophomore WEL resident Ellen McGinnis.
Other residents said they find the seminar rooms less attractive for studying for a variety of reasons. Some students said, for example, that the rooms are not as comfortable as the commons rooms and are more isolating than the library.
"I think that people would rather use the commons room to do work, assuming that the commons room is quiet," said senior Victor Mangona, who serves as a resident advisor in the WEL. "If somebody would rather have it be quiet they could go to a study room but because people don't use them that much, I feel like you'd feel kind of imprisoned."
Seminar rooms reflect an administrative imperative to make the WEL's facilities more available to all campus residents, White said, noting that the rooms were strategically placed near entrances. She added that in other residence halls, public social and study space can be difficult to find for a non-resident.
"Each of the seminar rooms is designed to be easily accessible from the obvious entrance to the building," White said. "We thought these would be attractive and obvious places for people to gather, easy to get in and out and to find."
Some study groups are beginning to use the seminar rooms for more organized study sessions. Mangona said both residents and non-residents showed interest in a recent chemistry study session that was held in building B.
"In the study session today, a lot of people knew about it in the WEL," Mangona said. "Their friends came along, too, because [the WEL] is central to everybody who lives on West."
While such sessions may become more popular in the seminar rooms, residents said they do not use the rooms regularly.
"There is usually either no one in there, or like one person," said sophomore WEL resident Daniel Thalhammer. "I have never seen it crowded. It is usually pretty empty."
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