On Calming Common Areas

Windham 'living room' in 1933. Photo courtesy of Conn College Archives

The College’s recent improvements have been generally well received – the re-pavement of back roads along the west side of campus, along with Wi-Fi in dorms, seating added to the library, bathroom renovations, and the cell phone tower I watched a giant crane connect to the top of Shain are all welcome investments. Thank you to the administration for paying close attention the infrastructure needs on our campus.

This positive response has come with one widely-held concern about an “improvement” that didn’t feel as such: Freeman dining hall, which once had big, round tables, dark red walls and wall-to-wall carpeting is now paved in tile, repainted an institutional light blue, and furnished with the bubbly, character-less square tables once owned by Harris. This was also done to the tables in Jane Addams dining hall, whose wallpaper was stripped in favor of that same blue paint last year.

Students tend to seek out comfortable areas on campus to spend their time – Coffee Grounds with its big fluorescent-less light fixtures and warm painted walls, the mahogany-lined Plant and Branford common rooms’ fireplaces, hardwood floors, and old fashioned bookshelves, and the Charles Chu room’s giant nap-friendly chairs in Shain. We like the character of these places – it’s a bit jarring when their spirit is taken away.

In her Environmental Psychology class, professor and faculty marshal Ann Devlin teaches the importance of comfortable gathering areas in a community. Bright, soft lighting has a direct positive effect on mood and concentration, and seating areas encourage stronger attachments between residents.

When introducing coeducation to our college in 1969, the school also made a conscious attempt to baby-proof our communal areas – loose books, rugs and pianos were removed from common rooms to allow more space for sticky floors and kegs, and a strict accordance for fire safety codes ushered in plasticky, flame-proof couches and chairs. The recent introduction of the highly ineffective living and learning freshman seminar program, meant to introduce intellectual thought into residence halls, really just interrupted our living spaces with big plastic tables, chalkboards, and intrusive walls and doors.

Now we have no kegs in place to sully up our common rooms, and plans for a new Science center that will likely offer more classroom space. Isn’t it time to reissue our common spaces as just that – inviting places to commune? The new Centennial is fast approaching. We’re looking to celebrate our history. The exterior beauty our college takes pride in should also be represented on the inside. What better way to promote discussion on campus and interaction between groups than to offer them comfortable places to do so?

I propose a new fundraising initiative: allow alumni to redecorate the common room of a dorm they care about. Let them paint or paper its walls, add books to its shelves, ship in overstuffed couches. Let them pick a theme – 70’s mod chic, 30’s speakeasy, Florida retirement home, J.D. Salinger’s living room, whatever – and run with it. Take advantage of your artists, and acknowledge how your residents unconsciously react to their environment.

We appreciate the opportunity to watch Campus Safety doing synchronized Segway wheelies on the green. Now let’s create more places to talk about it.