Author: Michael Darling
Somewhat recently, Occidental declared a new housing policy for the soon-to-be-arriving class of 2013. Last year, it was announced that starting with the class of 2012, all students would have to live on-campus through their sophomore year. This year, a new policy was revealed in which everyone, starting with next year’s first-years, will have to live on-campus through their junior year. This new policy crushes the freedom of students to live where they want for the majority of their time at Oxy.
Last year’s policy change was somewhat acceptable. The school made sense of the decision by throwing out a few statistics about how only a small fraction of the sophomore population lives off-campus and that the change wouldn’t make much of a difference. However, a sizable percentage of the junior-senior population lives off-campus. In fact, almost all of my closest junior friends live in houses off-campus. So, considering that juniors make up a large number of the off-campus population, how did the administration explain their decision?
Well, it seems the only thing the administration had to support its policy change was Oxy’s goal as a residential institution and that this was on par with the housing plans at similar schools. So, to summarize, Oxy’s justification for the new restrictions was that other schools do the same thing. This excuse sounds similar to the classic childhood rationalization that all the other kids are doing it. In response, I almost feel like playing the part of the chastising parent and asking, “If Claremont-McKenna jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?” The idea that Oxy should follow the lead of other liberal arts college and house students in their first three years of college will only make Oxy like any other liberal arts college. I, for one, chose Occidental over other schools because of what made it different.
Now, before I proceed, I shall admit that I understand why the college is going through with this plan. Last year, Rangeview opened with the aim of housing a larger population of students on campus. It turned out that there wasn’t a huge demand to live in the shiny, new, community-free collection of empty hallways that is Rangeview and currently 177 of the on-campus beds are empty. The student body should not be forced to pay for the administration’s erroneus budget estimates and prediction of how many people would want to live on campus. 177 empty beds should be seen as a clear indicator that not all people are pleased with the state of on-campus living. This visible evidence of student dissatisfaction was ignored by the administration. When you combine the empty beds with the current global economic downturn and the shrinking size of the endowment, it leads to a perfect storm in which the school must find new means of making money.
Housing Services Community Director Bobby Rodgers said that the absence of 177 warm bodies living on campus leads to a loss of around a million dollars. Despite this, according to the Senate report in last week’s issue of The Weekly, Rodgers mentioned that ResLife was seriously considering running cable through every room as an enticement for students to live on campus. Rodgers says that cost of rewiring the dorms “…is in excess of a hundred thousand dollars.” My freshman year, there was a service called OxyTV through which students could pay to watch television via internet in the privacy of their own room. This program was canceled halfway through the year because only about a dozen students were using it. Do we really want a repeat of the OxyTV fiasco with even more money being wasted on it?
I do not doubt there are legitimate reasons behind the new policy. That being said, should the policy take effect, there will be negative implications for off-campus social life as well. If juniors are no longer allowed to live off-campus, think about the fewer number of parties that will happen. I can think of many houses where the majority of residents are juniors or sophomores. If these people were forced to live on campus, the party scene would suffer a significant drop and Oxy would have fewer problems with the neighbors. On a somewhat related note, the Greek system would take a hit as only seniors would live in the houses. The Zeta house, for example, is comprised entirely of juniors and sophomores.
Now, allow me to shift from hedonistic pleasures to more responsible reasons for opposition to the new policy. Those who live off-campus enjoy a freedom and a sense of responsibility that they can not get on campus. They cook their own meals. They pay the bills to the landlord. If college is supposed to get a person ready for the real world, why is Oxy now trying to keep students from experiencing the real world duties that come with living off-campus? Also, to my knowledge, it remains unclear if the new policy will allow students to live at home if they already live in the area. I know the terms set for the class of 2012 allowed for this option, but what of this new policy?
My fellow students, this new policy will crush the freedom of residence that we enjoy. Yes, the three years on-campus policy shall not affect us, but we as students have to defend the rights of all students to live where they want. As much as I do not like this new policy, what truly draws my ire was how it was presented to students. This new policy was created without any consultation of the student body and announced with little fanfare during mid-terms, at a time when it was suspected we would be too busy to care or protest. I have seen this same action done many times before and I say it has gone on too long. We, the students, are the ones who the policies are aimed at and we must demand an active role in the creation and shaping of these regulations. Let us remind Occidental that as long as we and our families are giving money to the school, we are its shareholders. If we want future generations of students to have the same Oxy experience that we have had, we must shake off our apathy and show the administration that the student body gives a damn and demands a voice.
Michael Darling is a junior History major. He can be reached at mdarling@oxy.edu
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