When I attended Conn between 1973 and 1977 dorms were central to the students’ social experience; whether it was competing in intramural sporting events, planning campus-wide dances or hosting themed parties (with and without alcohol) in common areas, the dorms were natural hubs for our social lives. The dorm-centric social experience (which integrated students from all classes and sexes) forced us to get to know each other in a very intuitive fashion, supplying a middle ground for differing social groups to interact when they ordinarily would not.
It sounds like things have changed.
I was disheartened to learn that during my son’s time at Conn (he graduated in 2010) the school undertook a renovation program that turned many of the common rooms across campus into classrooms. It may not have been intended, but this has infringed upon the ability of students to host social events and gatherings inside the dorms by co-opting the spaces for academic purposes. It should always be a number one priority for the school administration to maintain that fine, but distinct line between academic life and dorm life, and in undertaking this project, they seem to have crossed that line.
The most recent editorial in the Voice struck a tone that I heard many times from my son and his friends: that the actions of the college’s administration are reducing students’ opportunities to bond with each other, which is invariably altering the social fabric of the college. Ultimately this adversely affects the overall atmosphere at the college, forcing students to seek more exclusive approaches to socializing and thus limiting the breadth of the social experience for which Conn was once known.
While it is probably unrealistic to expect the administration to reverse course with regards to its initiative to close the gap between classrooms and dorms, I should hope that they might take a closer look at the effects of this project on the quality of life on campus.
The administration should consider creating a designated social space (or spaces, plural) on or near campus that could be used exclusively for dorm sponsored social events, and most importantly of all, it would be primarily controlled by students. It would be a shame to see the administration tighten the leash on student affairs and revoke their rights to pursuing social initiatives independent from academic or administrative jurisdiction. That student independence, if lost, would mark a striking blow to the core identity of Connecticut College, and a particularly damaging one to future students who might not know otherwise.
David Schonberger ’77
