The Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC) met yesterday for the second time this week to discuss the future status of the WestCo dormitory.
Discussion will continue into next week as the committee debates a plan of “community-focused living,” which WestCo leaders and administrators developed to more clearly define the dorm’s status in campus housing.
The plan would modify WestCo’s admissions procedures for sophomores, retain frosh placement through the general room selection process, and put WestCo in a separate category than either residence halls or program houses.
“A great compromise has been reached, and while some kinks still need to be worked out, I am confident that the URLC will give it a vote of support,” said URLC member Emily Polak ’05 after the meeting Thursday night.
Current and former WestCo Presidents, WestCo Head Resident Nathan Victoria ’05, Dean of Student Services Mike Whaley, Area Coordinator Brandon Buehring, Associate Director of ResLife Maureen Isleib, and Assistant Director of ResLife Rich De Capua developed the plan through a series of meetings to discuss the subject. The URLC and Dean of the College Peter Patton still need to approve the plan before it is put into effect.
Under the plan, sophomores interested in living in WestCo would be asked to submit an explanation of their interest and potential contribution to the community and be invited to submit supplementary materials by Feb. 27. The area coordinator and a consultant committee, including a representative chosen by the URLC and a student selected by WestCo, would review the submissions and determine who’s admitted to the dorm. Frosh would continue to be placed through the general room selection process.
The WestCo representatives said they have been generally satisfied with the outcome of their discussions with the Administration.
“From our perspective we got to keep self-selection, self-governance and our vision. We get to maintain the integrity of our dorm,” said Willy Friedman ’06, who ended his yearlong term as WestCo president last week.
“It’s not perfect. It does a little harm to WestCo, but it’s definitely an acceptable agreement,” said Kevin Tyler Hall ’05, who was president of WestCo as a freshman. Hall said that WestCo would lose some autonomy in the selection process because every member of guidance used to be involved with the selection process and now Buehring would direct the process with the help of two students.
“One thing we’re gaining is a sense of permanence,” Hall said.
Since last spring when former Dean of the College Freddye Hill announced that program houses would not be allowed to include frosh, WestCo has had no official status as either a program house or a traditional residence hall. WestCo was classified as a program house at the beginning of last year, yet it had a head resident rather than a house manager and lacked a faculty adviser.
“It never actually was program housing,” Hall said. “It existed before program housing. It serves a different function than program housing.”
Everyone in attendance at the second WestCo selection meeting came to agree on a compromise structure, according to former WestCo president Willy Gould. There was, however, some apprehension from people not in attendance, and concerns about the proposal persist.
According to Buehring, Reslife’s concern from the start has been to find a structure that would preserve WestCo’s unique, positive qualities and be compatible with the current system and rules that operate in other houses.
“If we create something that looks like program housing and has a lot of the [program housing] benefits but without a lot of the structures, it would seem very unfair and unjust to students who fought very hard for X house, which was told it could not have freshmen this year,” Buehring said.
In order to address this concern WestCo residents developed their proposal as a structure that could be a category open to adaptation by others. Substance Free Hall, 200 Church and other residences have been discussed as other spaces that might be become alternative living spaces like Westco.
Islieb, who sits on the URLC and attended one of the WestCo selection meetings, said that while the URLC is looking for a framework that would include other units, the situation of 200 Church is not tied to the decision for WestCo.
“What’s decided for one is not decided for the other,” Islieb said.
Current WestCo President Nick Nauman ’07 said he disagreed with focusing on how WestCo fits into the framework developed for other dorms.
“Decimating the spirit of WestCo is not a productive change in anyway. Focusing on WestCo as an exception that needs to conform is a backwards way of looking at things which is really causing all the problems,” Nauman said.
Discussion has adopted an urgent tone as the deadline for the final decision is next Friday, according to Buehring.
“We’re at a crunch point right now,” he said.
Conversation about WestCo’s fate was supposed to begin last semester and Buehring said he tried to arrange two meetings between WestCo representatives and ResLife. None occurred because of a miscommunication between him and Gould.
Buehring said he regrets the delay because it has cut short discussion and forced ResLife to make a decision quickly.
“If we don’t find a solution, it will go to [the general room selection] and that’s what we’re trying to avoid,” Buehring said. “We really want to be able to maintain the spirit and the theme and the life of WestCo. It’s such a fascinating and energetic and thriving community and we don’t want to kill that.”
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