Students who might have otherwise felt "orphaned" on West Campus can now consider Kilgo Quadrangle for their new home-.
Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors who want to live on West for the 2009-2010 school year now have the option of living with a roommate in the "Block-Free Zone." The section, also known as "East Meets West," mimics the East Campus experience of randomly assigned housing. It includes Kilgo I and J, and possibly part of Few, if demand exists. The space will have a maximum of 180 beds available to students who do not want to live in a block or selective living group.
"It will benefit people who want to block, and people who don't want to block because 'orphans' won't break up the blocks, and non-blocking people won't be bothered by blocks around them," said Campus Council President Molly Bierman, a senior.
In addition to the "Sophomores on Central" and "Substance-Free Housing" initiatives, the creation of the "Block-Free Zone" will afford all students greater freedom in choosing where they live on West Campus, said Steve Nowicki, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education.
"The premise of the initiative is to diversify student options and retain the option for students who seek the wonder of random gatherings," said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta.
The new "East Meets West" experiment relates back to the Campus Culture Initiative, which was released in 2007 and found that the Room Pix process put non-blocking students at a disadvantage in choosing rooms, said Eddie Hull, dean of residence life and executive director of housing services.
"It responds to the interests stated in the CCI to create a residential experience of helping create communities to help students feel like they belong, and create a greater degree of options than had existed in the past," he said.
Nowicki added that a controversial recommendation from the CCI had been to get rid of all affiliated living groups, but after conversations with students it became clear that this was not the best option.
Thus, the purpose of the "East Meets West" initiative is not to "push down social selectives, but to elevate people who aren't in social selectives," he said.
Unlike the other new housing initiatives, Campus Council did not gauge student interest for "East Meets West" with a formal, quantitative survey because of time constraints, said senior Kevin Thompson, vice president of Campus Council.
"But based on informal discussions with administrators, we can all agree that there was a deficiency in the room-selection process," he added. "We all hope that this initiative and others we have passed will serve to rectify it."
Because the new space will not impede on existing living structures on West, both administrators and Campus Council executives are optimistic about student reception of the new option.
"It's hard to imagine a negative reaction," Moneta. "It will allow blocks to have more contiguous space."
In addition, no roommate pairs who opt not to block will be required to live in the "Block-Free Zone," he added. Furthermore, the size of the "Block-Free Zone" will depend on the number of students who indicate the option as their housing preference. If less than 180 students want to live there, the size of the section will simply shrink, Bierman said. But if student demand exceeds the allotted 180 beds, the extra students will have to re-enter the lottery to live elsewhere.
Daren Miller, a freshman, said he thinks the option will benefit non-blocking students, even though he plans to block on West with friends.
Freshman Nada Baalbakiot said few freshmen are interested in living in the "Block-Free Zone" because they do not want to risk living near random neighbors.
"It's like, 'why not block?'" she said. "With my friends, we didn't even consider not blocking. I haven't heard anyone mention living alone."
About 35 to 40 percent of the bed space in the "Block-Free Zone" will be reserved for juniors and seniors.
"We want to ensure that sophomores will get a good opportunity to live there, but there will also be an inter-generational aspect," Thompson said.
Junior Pete Horgan said he has heard of the "freshmen-style" living option for next year and empathizes with students who get "wedged-in" between selective living groups. For their sophomore year, Horgan and his roommate did not register with a block and ended up living in the middle of a section in Wannamaker. He added that some of his friends lived in a rowdy block that alienated their neighbors.
"I like the idea for people who don't want to be around other blocks. They won't get trapped when they come back from abroad," he said. "It's good for people to be around people who are more like-minded and will keep the noise levels down."
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