Three years ago seniors responded to the renovation of Clark Hall by breaking out their old T-shirts reading “Clark Hall: Better Than a Turkish Prison.” They scoffed at the spoiled freshmen, taking the elevator to the top of their hotel on Foss Hill.
This year’s seniors might not react as strongly to the new Fauver dorms, but freshmen sweating without air-conditioning in the Butts might feel differently.
Even with the amenities, not everyone prefers the newest housing options.
“Students tell us they love the balconies on Foss and spaces like the WestCo Café,” said Joyce Topshe, assistant vice-president for facilities. “Other students have said they like the convenience of Clark Hall and the lounges overlooking Andrus Field. The Butts are close to Summerfields for the night owls and offer huge lounges for dance practice.”
For many students the lure of having a single trumps a gargantuan one-room double in Clark. For them, trading air conditioning for a single room is a fair deal. It is for this reason, among others, that many students living in the Butterfield and Foss Hill dorms opted to be there.
“I know some people who aren’t happy with their roommate situations,” said Elise Rosen ’09, who lives in Hewitt, her first housing choice. “Singles are envied by people who have doubles.”
Balconies and singles aside, the loudest complaints usually aren’t about aesthetics. Fauver, for example, has been accused of being sterile. For some people even Clark, which got the same criticism three years go, seems intimate by comparison.
“Fauver looks too sterile,” said Minsu Han ’09, who lives in Clark. “Well, compared to the Butts it’s sterile.”
“I wouldn’t want to live in Fauver,” said Julia Kleederman ’09, a Hewitt resident. “I’m very happy. Look at this space,” she said, beaming at her cinderblock walls.
Some students who expected the all-frosh dorms Clark and Fauver to be social meccas have been disappointed. In fact, the slightly worn Foss Hill dorms seem to some to lend themselves more to hanging out.
“Clark’s not as social,” said Ross Heinemann ’09, who prefers the layout of the Foss Hill dorms to the periwinkle blue of his own hall. “Go over to WestCo. There’s always more going on over there.”
Although Tressa Eaton ’09 loves that her Fauver dorm is environmentally efficient, she sometimes feels that the large rooms are less conducive to meeting other people on the hall.
“Because the rooms are so large, the doors are far away,” Eaton said. “There’s more bonding with roommates. The Hewitts and Nics seem really bonded.”
The Hewitt frosh wouldn’t necessarily agree. With only a handful of freshmen living in Hewitt, meeting other frosh has been challenging for some students. Living in the Butts, similarly, often forces students to work harder to make friends.
“It’s quiet here,” Rosen said. “It’s weird being the only freshman on a floor.”
“The Butts seem more isolated,” said Olivia Dooley ’09. “A lot of people have singles. The people are awesome but it takes awhile to find them. I’m like the last one on my hall so I’d wake up and say ‘Where are all the people?”
While Eaton said she wished her hall was a bit cozier, she draws the line at comparing Fauver to a hotel.
“People are like, ‘Oh, it looks like a Best Western!” Eaton said. “But when you put your own stuff in it looks like home.”
Regardless of the location, Topshe believes that Wesleyan’s housing options, with its high availability of singles, even for freshmen, are superior to those of other schools. For the students, the variety of housing options embodies the diversity that attracted them to Wesleyan in the first place.
“Clark Hall is more collegiate and WestCo [dorms] are more like apartments,” Minsu said.
“Everyone finds a home,” said Quinn Olbrich ’09, a Clark resident. “Each dorm has its own personality.”
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