As students have begun choosing their housing for next year, many have raised questions about changes being made for the upcoming year. This year brought the first all first-year dorm to Connecticut College, so what’s next? Following the feedback from this decision, the College has implemented a few more big changes to the housing process and design, including another all first-year dorm (Morrison) and the elimination of first-years from the three southernmost dorms on campus (Jane Addams, Freeman, and Harkness). Additionally, in these three South dorms, as well as Park and Wright, there College will no longer restrict the distribution of class years housed in each building, as it had in previous years.
Since Hamilton was turned into an all first-year dorm, there has been talk of creating more first-year dorms, so the conversion of Morrison is not surprising. Sara Rothenberger, Assistant Dean for Residential Education and Living, mentioned that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “I hosted a focus group in February with students there and many indicated they hope to continue to live in the Plex next year close to friends they have made in Hamilton,” Rothenberger said. “Our hope is that this model creates 4-year friendship and support systems in the class of 2021 and classes to come.”
Caroline Smith ’18, housefellow of Hamilton, expresses that “Hamilton seems to have a much more cohesive bond than other houses, with more interaction between the floors and between individuals on the floors. I feel like in other houses people don’t know their neighbors as much but in Hamilton it feels like everyone pretty much knows each other.” Many students agree with this and have reported many positive aspects to the all first-year housing, such as being able to make friends quickly and being surrounded by people who are in the same position as they are. At the same time, there are a few drawbacks. Smith comments that some students have mentioned not getting to know upperclassmen as a negative, but she thinks that that can be done through joining clubs and other organizations as well.
The decision to remove first-years from South campus came mostly from feedback over the last several years which indicated that first-years living in Harkness, Jane Addams, and Freeman have a more difficult time transitioning into campus life. Students have commented that upperclassmen are not very involved with welcoming the first-year students on their floors into the community. Rothenberger explains that “it is more likely that first-year students will meet upperclass students through classes, teams and co-curricular activities than through their floor communities.” This feedback has come from Camel chats, focus groups, surveys, and transfer data.
Eve O’Brien ’21, a first-year currently living in South, says that while she likes living in South as a location, it is hard living there as a first-year. She explained that the first-years and upperclass students don’t really talk to each other, and that since there are so few first-years living there, it is hard to find a community of people in the dorm there. When asked if she would rather have been housed in an all first-year dorm, O’Brien responded yes. She believes that it would have made the transition into college much easier. Smith also mentioned that she sees how it is easier for the first-years to go through the shared experiences together.
Rothenberger added that “as we consolidate more first-years through the renovation of Morrison this summer we have to choose to take first-years out of some buildings.” It makes sense then, for it to be from South if students are having a more difficult time adjusting and living there. If these changes go as well they did this year, then they should be successful. There is always a question, however, about first-years being separated from the upperclass students and how that will impact relationships between classes, but as the students and staff said earlier, it seems that first-years and upperclassmen meet more through sports and clubs than through housing.
