As much as some of us don’t like to admit it, we love the dorms.
The friendly confines of a small, 12-by-16-foot space with shared food, restrooms and comrades helps catapult the college experience into one of exciting exposure and endless opportunity. Many of us have moved into bigger and better housing, where we can enjoy our own rooms and take showers sans the sandals.
Yet we all look back with nostalgic pride at the time we spent living in the chaotic scene of dorm life. Strangers became friends, roommates became nuisances and Easy Mac became the greatest food on God’s earth. Living in university residence halls enriched our college experience, perhaps even defined it, and allowed us to develop the kinds of relationships that can only come with living among a hundred other people for an entire school year.
It is for that very reason that every incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin should have the opportunity to live in public residence halls. To date, state law requires housing only to in-state freshman, leaving out those who travel from afar to attend school here. For the 2004-05 school year, UW Housing was short approximately 750 beds for first-year students. This has led to freshmen having to seek alternative housing, usually in the form of the private residence halls (which are much more expensive) or apartments (which make it very hard to meet people). As a prestigious, nationally renowned university, shouldn’t we be able to provide all incoming students with university housing?
There is currently a plan of action being debated that would tear down University Square and put up a new student activity center, which would house UW student organization offices. The proposal includes a high-rise residence hall with two floors of retail space that would house University Health Services, the Bursar’s Office and the student financial aid office. If put into effect soon, the development would add 770 new beds for the 2008-09 school year. This would take care of all incoming first-year students who wanted to live in the university residence halls.
Studies have shown there are clear advantages for college students who live on campus. University housing provides more opportunities for involvement and participation in extra-curricular activities, which can lead to greater learning environment and a more enriched college experience. Many residence halls at UW provide “learning communities” which can unite people with similar interests and increase student awareness. The combination of hall tutoring services and the opportunity to engage in informal contact with faculty can contribute to improved academic performance.
Let’s also not forget the obvious advantage — dorm living is generally cheaper and much easier, helping lessen the burden on first-year students when they arrive on campus.
Although the new dorm proposal would be costly, the university stands to benefit as much as the students. Seven hundred new beds mean 700 more students paying room and board. UW makes much of its profits off university housing; new dorms would provide an extra four and a half million dollars a year. With the current university financial situation — tuition being raised significantly, classes being dropped from the curriculum, budget cuts across the board — the university needs all the revenue it can get. Despite the initial costs, the new dorm proposal could be one way for UW to increase the money going into the system for years to come.
The naysayers for this proposed action plan include Steve Brown, the owner of the private residence halls and apartment associations around the city. Not only would new university housing decrease the number of students seeking alternative housing and provide the opportunity for a more engaged college career, it would drive down rent prices: good for students — bad for landlords. The number of students living in private residence halls would decrease. Obviously, the strict opposition to new dorms is motivated by selfishness. Brown & Co only care what is in their best interests, not what is most beneficial to students.
With the clear benefits of living on campus evident, why not provide all incoming students with university housing if we have the ability to do so? Whether the students decide to capitalize on the chance to live in the dorms is of their own choosing. If the university can offer all new students housing, everyone stands to benefit. We should be addressing the concerns and issues of the university and its students, not looking out for the best interests of private entities, to whom students’ well-being is of no concern.
Adam Lichtenheld ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in political science and international studies.
