[Vision2020] Fw: UI Considers Making Freshmen Live on Campus

[Kenneth Marcy]

On Thursday 20 August 2009 12:26:03 Linda Pall wrote:
> With all respect to Ken and to the halcyon days of Ernie Hartung, true
> believer in the role of the university and its liberal arts element, I
> think these ideas about living on campus, maybe even without a car, are
> about making the educational experience more relevant for young people, as
> they put their toes in the academic waters for the first time.

Relevant -- there's a word that got a workout back in those days. Welcome 
back, relevant!

To the extent that living on-campus encourages, indeed, forces, a student to 
focus his or her efforts toward academic achievement, it's well and good. 
Successful completion of early coursework will encourage continuation for 
more, and the results of a student's interpersonal relations on campus will 
assist in determining whether to continue or to change a housing location.

I recall from my own on-campus experience that having a comfortable location 
to which to go as a change of pace from dorm room, cafeteria, or library was 
an important part of maintaining an even emotional keel. In those days the 
swimming facilities south of the old gymnasium did not exist, and two years 
of P.E. were still required in the curriculum. Facilities have improved with 
the "new" pools and the newer recreation and exercise centers north of the 
dorms and east of the Kibbie Dome.

But students have lost a comfortable place to have a cup of coffee, to 
socialize, and to study that is away from their primary residence location or 
the library (which isn't supposed to be for socializing, anyway). In other 
words, the students have lost the Student Union Building, which is now an 
administrative complex. Yes, I know about the Commons, that add-on to the 
eastern side of the University Classroom Center that has all of the ambiance 
of a jet airliner repair and refurbishment hanger, without the resident jets. 
Since the food vendors seem to be able, effectively, to shut down the place 
when their cash flows dwindle, the general purpose, high-ceiling barn portion 
of the facility is of limited use as an escape from dorms and cafeterias.

> I also think it is easier to create a community among students if there is  
> some proximity and some gentle help available (through residence hall      
> advisers and even in-house faculty who sometimes live in residence halls at 
> some institutions.

I think you're correct in this assessment. However, I do feel the experience 
could be even better with more flexible space available on-campus for 
non-classroom, non-dining activities that are not of a gymnastic or athletic 
nature. Some sort of combination of spaces representing a community living 
rooms, community dens, and community meeting spaces not "owned" 
or "controlled" by one living group or another, or the "administration," it 
seems to me, would be a valuable addition to encourage a variety of 
activities not necessarily affiliated with a particular residence group. In 
other words, it would be nice to have a New Student Union back for students.

> I am reminded of my English university days and even my Reed College days   
> back in the year zero when dinosaurs were a prominent feature of           
> Eastmoreland in Portland... 

I suppose the dinosaurs could be invited back, virtually, if there were any 
budget or facilities for rooms-full of Linux-based rendering computers for a 
modern production facility to be part of a movie-film-cinema arts curriculum.

And your idea for what we might call the Idaho British College, a portion of 
the University whose curricula and faculty could be modeled after the British 
experience with in-residence faculty and tutors, and degree examinations with 
different timing, content, and temperament than the usual semester-based 
offerings, should not be dismissed out-of-hand. Perhaps as an educational, 
and not to say merely marketing, experiment, such an alternative might prove 
instructive in a variety of ways. Considering, designing, constructing, and 
implementing such an innovation would not be a trivial exercise, however.

> Finances are part of it but cannot be the prime justification.

One would like to think so. Perhaps observation will bear it out.


Ken