Residence Life and Housing Services will provide students with several new living opportunities for the 2009-2010 school year.
Sophomores will be permitted to live on Central Campus, Campus Council executives told the group's policy committee at an ad hoc meeting Thursday. In addition, a substance-free living space on West Campus will be created, as well as a contiguous living space for non-blocking independents.
"All of the proposed changes are designed to provide more flexibility and options to more students," Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, said at the meeting.
Four apartment blocks consisting of up to 60 bed spaces on Central will be designated to sophomores to meet student demand, said senior Kevin Thompson, vice president of Campus Council. Sophomores will also have the option to block in the allotted area.
Campus Council began considering the option after sophomores who chose to live on Central this year because of the Few renovation reported that they preferred Central to West. In a survey last semester, the council found that 70 percent of respondents felt that living on Central should be an option. Spaces that were given to undergraduates for the Few renovation will also be redesignated for graduate and professional student use.
The new housing option will not force any sophomores to live on Central, Nowicki noted. Juniors and seniors will be able to live in the area set aside for sophomores if any bed spaces remain after sophomore selection.
The new policy is part of a medium-term strategy to upgrade Central, Nowicki said, and a number of amenities including dining, transportation and security will be added to satisfy the needs of residents.
Furthermore, student living groups such as Ubuntu will be offered spaces on Central, Nowicki said. He added that he hopes that some existing groups would also relocate.
"My intention [for Central] would not be a place to start new groups but move existing groups out there," he said. "We don't want to move groups there that are going to decrease the value of the real-estate."
The second major initiative will allocate 125 bed spaces in Crowell Quadrangle Houses G and H to students opting for substance-free living. Students preferring a more unified health community will continue to have the opportunity to live in the West Campus Wellness Living Learning Community, but the section will be reduced. The change results from discussions between RLHS and Campus Council after a recent student survey indicated that 26 percent of students were interested in substance-free living.
Following discussions at a future general body meeting, Campus Council will provide RLHS with a number of suggestions regarding the specific details of the substance-free living section, Campus Council President Molly Bierman, a senior, said in an interview. These will include the percentage of beds that should be allocated to non-sophomores and whether the substance-free expectation should extend beyond the community or be limited to within the community.
The third major initiative, termed "East meets West," is a living option for independents that will provide non-blocking students with contiguous living spaces in Kilgo Quadrangle Houses I and J, and possibly Few Quadrangle House FF if there is enough student demand. A maximum of 180 bed spaces will be set aside.
"The environment mimics East Campus," Thompson said. "[It's for students] that want to live with their roommate and want to meet other people, but don't want to live in a block."
The initiative will both prevent the "orphan effect" felt by non-blocking students living in the middle of a block and provide more options for contiguous blocking, he added.
Although Nowicki has spoken about creating a living model based on House P-a student living unit for independent housing in Kilgo that was phased out in 2005-he emphasized that the new option is different from the old model in that students will not receive preference in returning to the location.
"This is not a House P. We are thinking about a long-term view where everyone affiliates with a house of some sort," he said. "There is no right of return to this.... There is a lottery."
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