Author: Richie DeMaria
Of the many unpleasantries of having to share a room in college, waking up to the beeping of two different alarm clocks ranks as one of the biggest. Eric Olson (first-year) wakes up to three.
“It’s the worst part about living in a triple,” he said.
For Olson and his two roommates, living in a triple has had its share of difficulties. The morning salvo of wake-up calls has been just one of several challenges he and his two roommates have had to face in their new living situation. Furniture shortages, a lack of desk and closet space and the logistics of climbing into a bunk bed are all things the three first-years have had to work into their daily routine.
Ask any first-year about their living situation and you’re bound to get a similar response. Squeezed into Braun, Stewie, Norris Orange and the Haines Annex, the Class of 2011 find themselves living in especially close quarters. But the complaints tend to end there. Look beyond the space limitations and you’ll find a veritable community, living well together despite, or because of, the lack of room.
Welcome to first-year housing. For the first time in decades, all first-years are being housed in residence halls exclusive to their class, similar to the majority of the country’s liberal arts colleges. Reactions across the Oxy community have been mixed. Proponents praise the resultant sense of camaraderie amongst first-years, while detractors feel first-year housing deprives younger students from interacting with their older peers. It begs the question: good or bad, why was the housing changed in the first place?
The answer, Dean of Students Barbara Avery said, lies in developing a sense of community.
“For any college, helping first-years deal with transition is the number one issue,” she said. “And in first-year residence halls, I think that students feel connected. They find support in those communities; they find something in common.”
Avery recognizes the importance of older friends, but believes it necessary that the class find support in each other.
“When we asked how students felt when their mentors graduated, they were devastated,” she said. “You need a student who can carry you all four years. In a residential community like this, you need as much support as possible.”
By grouping first-year students together, she said, it allows them to build a strong social foundation. Braun resident Veronica Armstead-Williams (first-year) agrees.
“With all first-year housing, we’re all in the same boat,” Armstead-Williams said.
“It makes it easier to meet people and easier to relate to people around you,” Rachel Colby (first-year) said.
Kanoi Takitani-Smith (sophomore), a Resident Advisor in Stewie, finds that the first-year residence halls have allowed the Class of 2011 to bond in a way mixed-class housing would not.
“They love being in an all-first-year hall. Everyone’s in same bracket,” she said. “They really use each other as resources to their best advantage. They’re really close.”
She recalls a weekend during the late August heat wave when Stewie residents bonded by sleeping outside.
“They took their blankets outside. A whole bunch gathered around laptops and watched movies or had hookah parties,” she said.
Last year, residents of Braun, then the only all-first-year residence hall, received fewer Early Warning Academic Notices and had fewer alcohol violations than past first-year classes. For Avery, this indicates a success. “So far, so good,” she said.
The praise has not been unanimous, however. Upperclassmen in particular find fault in all first -year housing, citing the benefits of making older friends during the first year of school.
“Upperclassmen were a big resource when I had questions,” said Takitani-Smith of her first year. “They know the ropes; they’d been here longer than I was.”
Some first-years agree that all-first-year housing has its limitations.
“We all kind of have a high-school mentality, and it’s hard to get away from that,” Monica Guerrero (first-year) said.
And of course, there are the space limitations. The delayed opening of the new residence hall, scheduled to open next semester, and the subsequent closing of Bell Young, Wylie and Erdman, has left the campus with a temporary shortage of rooms.
This year, 53 percent of first-year students are housed in triples, which come at a significantly smaller price than doubles. Director of Residence Life and Housing Kecia Baker admits the situation is not the best, but deems it a necessary discomfort.
“By no means is it ideal, but it’s a short term inconvenience for long term gain,” she said. “The halls are in much needed renovation. No time would’ve been convenient, but you have to start somewhere. If you just keep planning, it never gets done.”
The rooming situation was further complicated when Res Life was unable to produce enough triple-sized furniture.
“Triple furniture was in high demand. Some that we wanted, we couldn’t get,” Baker said. “It’s unfortunate that it wasn’t able to happen for us.”
The lack of furniture presents additional problems for space-starved students, who have to share desk space for studying.
The problem, Baker stresses, is temporary. Come fall 2008, when all the residence halls will be open, Occidental will have the room to house 95 percent of its students, putting it in the same league as peer institutions like Harvey Mudd College, where 99 percent of students live on campus. Until then, first-years are feeling the squeeze.
Most first-years, though, have found a way around their triple trouble.
“We manage to make it work,” Olson said, who removed the doors of his closet to allow for more space. “It’s really fine.”
Roommates Armstead-Williams and Guerrero have also managed to make themselves comfortable despite the close quarters.
“We definitely deal with it,” Armstead-Williams said of the lack of space. “It’s not like we’re crammed. It’s really not that bad.”
“I think we’ve managed. We don’t know any different,” Guerrero said.
Some students, like Armstead-Williams and Gerrero, prefer triples to doubles.
“I think triples have the most fun,” Armstead-Williams said. “You just need to be open-minded.”
This is not the first time Occidental has instituted all first-year housing. In 1926, all first-years lived in one of two dorms: Swan for men and Weingart (then named Orr) for women. It was the first time all first-years were required to live on campus. The following year, all sophomore, junior and senior women moved into the newly constructed Erdman. The policy changed in 1940, when first-years were no longer required to live in a single dorm; men had the choice of living in Swan or Wylie, and first year women had the choice of living in Orr, Haines or Erdman. The College did away with all-first year residence halls after 1940, and in 1970, rules on gender-specific housing were lifted.
Now, the College looks to revamp the first-year experience. Future plans include the introduction of pre-orientation programs, such as a hiking trip, an arts excursion or a community service opportunity, intended to create an additional bond between students. The programs will be lead by returning students.
“If students bond around something, whether it’s surfing or theater, it will pull them out of their comfort zone and they can find common ground,” Avery said.
With furniture and room shortages, all first-year housing has gotten off to a less than perfect start. But if the happy, tight-knit community is any indication, Res Life has achieved their goal. Come next year, if all goes as planned, first-years should have even more opportunities to bond and gel as a class-and they’ll have more room to do it, too.
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