The opening of the new Fauver Field residences next fall will be a major step in the University’s long-term plan to place students in “class appropriate housing,” according to Maureen Isleib, Interim Director of Residential Life. The new dorms will consist of two separate complexes, one for frosh and another for upperclassmen, and will house approximately 270 students.
“This means that first year students should be placed in double rooms, sophomores in residence hall singles or program houses, juniors in apartment and suite style residences and seniors in wood frame houses,” Isleib said. “Approximately 25-30 percent of first year students live in residence hall singles. The construction of the new facility will open up more single rooms for sophomores.”
ResLife’s goal is to house all frosh in the Fauver Field residence, Foss Hill, 200 Church and Clark, leaving single rooms in other parts of campus open to more sophomores and juniors. This will especially affect rooms in the Butterfield dorms, which now houses 203 frosh. Under the new plan, frosh are much less likely to live in singles.
The upperclassmen residence will replace In-Town (which currently houses 118 students), and will house 100 students in 20 five-person apartments. It will also include two RA apartments. Each apartment will have two sinks, a bathroom, living area and kitchen. Each of the five bedrooms will be approximately 7.5 x 15.5 ft. The complex will have three floors, a central entrance, a common lounge and laundry facilities.
Despite student requests, the building will only be carpeted in the hallways and not in the apartments. Both new buildings will be air-conditioned.
The freshmen facility will house 160 freshman in 80 one-room doubles as well as six RAs in singles and one area coordinator apartment. Features include hallway sinks for dish washing and three separate lounges, one for general purposes, one for programming and one for quiet study, on each of the three floors.
“As for how many first year students will be living in the Butterfields next year, we still need to look at all the numbers and determine the distribution of students. We want to avoid isolating one or two first year students from living with other classmates,” Isleib said.
“Both buildings are going to be nice…they are all going to be brick with dry-wall interiors, porcelain tiles, elevators, indoor bike rooms,” said Project Manager Rob Schmidt. “The freshmen residence will have beautiful large glass windows in the centrally located lounge.”
Last fall, three meetings were held between administration members, ResLife staff and Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) members to get student feedback on the project.
“We had good discussions about what we liked and disliked about our first year living experiences,” WSA Interim Coordinator Ali Gomer ’05 said. “We especially talked about two room doubles versus one room doubles, and I think as a whole we wanted the one room doubles in this new residence for frosh to have furniture that could be moved around easily to create different amounts of privacy for the two residents.”
Last year WSA members tried to organize a forum for more student feedback but drew poor attendance. Nathan Victoria ’05 said that apathy among students and the budget of the project were the main reasons why complaints about room-sizes and carpeting in the upper classmen residence were given only minimal consideration.
Despite the lack of student participation in last spring’s forums, some students are unhappy with the University’s agenda.
“I’d be interested in a five person apartment in my senior year but I don’t see how the new residence option for seniors is an improvement from the current options. It’s 100 feet to the left of my freshman year Nicholson hallway,” said Evan Simko-Bernarski ’07.
“I think the administration did make a conscious effort to include students in the design process,” Gomer said. “[It] held off on the plans to build for another year so they could talk to students.”
“I live in a tiny room now,” said Jennifer Low ’06. “I don’t want to live in a tiny room as a senior.”
“My biggest problem with this is that the older you are the more housing options you should be given,” said Peter Glidden ’07 who currently lives on Foss Hill. “It’s also good that they mix the classes up because it’s a good way to meet people that you wouldn’t meet otherwise.”
After this year’s elections are finished, the WSA plans to hold informative meetings for students about the new buildings.
“I think the administration and WSA members involved in this need to make it very clear to the student body what the plans are so everyone knows what’s exactly going to happen in the next few years at Wes,” Gomer said.