I pass Lucky every day I go to class. I don’t find it bad. I don’t find it anything, really. I only notice that I get an unsettling feeling as I walk by.

The construction of large luxury housing such as Lucky is a symptom of a new revolution — the large-scale gentrification of student life. Other symptoms include services such as tanning salons, “sports” bars and gourmet fast-food restaurants. We are raising a generation that doesn’t know how to shop for groceries but is remarkably adept in ordering take-out.

Supporters of this trend contend that free market forces are adjusting to student demand for home-like amenities. They are so fucking correct. Many students who support this new movement have seen “The American Dream” firsthand, and refuse to give it up even if it means shedding the mold of a traditional student. College in this new world is a pseudo-high school. The only difference is that one is less likely to be a football player and the parents are no longer remotely in charge. Otherwise, things are essentially the same, complete with the hand-me-down couch that occupied the family TV room circa 2002.

But college life was once more than simply removing parents from one’s environment while still holding tightly to the amenities modern suburban life brings. Amenities such as security, monotony, homogeneity, buildings with an inoffensive matte exterior and HD televisions with HBO On Demand are changing the meaning and consequences of being at a university.

Early college living in the United States began as a monastic lifestyle in small, gated communities — basically Harvard: ivory towers dedicated to gaining knowledge and separation from the rigors of the outside world. This slowly changed — in my opinion for the better — toward more open and inclusive institutions, especially after World War II. Universities, since their inception, have been a place for pupils to learn and question. The latter is inherently ignored within the framework of this new student life. Ample hours of television and ready-made meals leave little room for questioning how to make the world, the country, the community and especially one’s life better when everything is already ‘good enough.’

Satisfaction is an important difference between the traditional student and the gentry of today’s university. I’m not convinced that life was considered entirely satisfying by earlier students. This is of course speculation as I can neither read minds nor travel time. However, when students were laid like cod one on top of another in tiny dormitories, life was probably not ‘good enough.’ Before and during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, America was unarguably the most prosperous country in the world, yet students still weren’t pacified enough to not protest en masse over issues ranging from war to sex to civil rights.

Students no longer care about things like sexual liberation, civil rights and war. Those things — even war — are taken for granted today.

Not satisfied, students actively sought to improve their stake in the world through contemplation and education. Author Con Houlihan recently told a story of a famous professor in the early 20th century who often told his pupils to sit down at the beginning of class. After 20 minutes of silence, he asked them, “What are you thinking about?” A seemingly ridiculous question taught students that thinking was a good discipline. Through the gentrification of student living, the culture of learning intrinsic in university education is weakening. Basically, many students today are so cozy in their lives that they have zero incentive to think.

Though this trend is disheartening, there is really nothing to be done. Social engineering is not something I believe in — I will cede that crown to Walt Disney and Rupert Murdoch. Perhaps, supporters could admit that living high in buildings like Lucky miss at least one of the two points of college; that is, learning to lead a fuller life. The second point is to get completely shit-faced and make bad decisions.

James Sonneman ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and history.