Jeff Rose, a Delafield, Wis., native and a senior at the University of Wisconsin, remembers the day he chose to live at the Statesider, 505 N. Frances St., and rejected the idea of living in a university residence hall.

“I chose to live at the Statesider because of its downtown location,” said Rose.

However, he said he would do things differently if he could go back.

“Had I known what it was like, I would have opted to live in the public dorms,” he said.

Rose was one of 2,000 students annually who choose to live in private residence halls, made up of six buildings spread across campus from the Highlander on West Gilman Street to the Princeton House on University Avenue.

Nate Bell, a sophomore UW student who now lives in Sellery Hall after a year in the Towers, 502 N. Frances St., believes the differences between the Towers and Sellery go beyond their locations.

“I had friends that lived in public dorms, who, when visiting me, said, ‘Hey! It’s like a hotel,'” said Bell, who decided to live in the Towers upon learning there was no availability in the university residence halls. “In the dorms, lots of people have their doors open, and there are decorations around.”

Bell believes the overall character of Towers residents differs from that of his current Sellery Hall neighbors.

“In one sense, there is a very big clash in attitudes and behaviors between stereotypical East Coaster and stereotypical Midwesterner,” he said.

Bell said he does not regret living in the Towers but might make a different decision a second time around.

“I’ve met some very good friends in the Towers,” Bell said. “But if I had a chance to do it again, I probably would have lived in the public dorms my first semester.

Zachary Stern, a UW freshman living in the Statesider, said one marked difference between the Statesider and public dorms is an apparent differing concentration of Jewish people.

“A lot [of Statesider] residents are Jewish,” said Stern, who is himself Jewish. “It’s definitely an unusual concentration. I wouldn’t call it strange or weird or bad. It’s just how it works out.”

Although there are no statistics on the matter, Bell said he agreed the Jewish population in the Towers appeared to be higher than that of in the university dorms.

“I know there was a lot of East Coast, primarily Jewish, people that lived both in the Towers and in the Statesider,” said Bell, who thinks both private- and public-dorm residents harm themselves by resisting co-mingling.

“In some senses it can be detrimental if you come to school, where you are supposed to learn from others’ experiences from where they’ve been, and instead live in the same situation as when you were at home with people who have had same experiences and viewpoints,” Bell said. “I think you miss out on one of the big aspects of college.”

Stern also pointed towards an increased tendency in the Statesider to join fraternities and sororities.

Stern, an Aurora, Ill., native, said he was attracted to the Statesider because of its facilities, rather than its Jewish constituency.

“I chose it because I liked the suites. I liked the room setups better than the dorms,” Stern said. “I’m sure there are people who picked it because there are more Jewish people.”

Rose said he thinks those living in private residence halls or the Towers might “fail to take advantage of the full spectrum of collegiate opportunity. Life goes way beyond Langdon Street.”