Beginni ng with next year's incoming freshman class, first year students who want to live exclusively among other freshmen will have the opportunity to do so in both Tilton Hall and Houston Hall.
Along with housing all freshmen starting next fall, Houston will include a healthy living floor, as well. It will have the same resources as Tilton does, such as the in-residence scholar to offer academic support and guidance to first year students.
The decision, which was finalized two weeks ago, aims to accommodate the large number of first year students who do not get housing in Tilton because of limited space. Residential Advisors were informed of the news last Friday.
Focus groups that helped the Office of Residential Life understand the success and benefits of the Tilton program for freshmen prompted the office to expand the program, said Yolanda King, Director of Residential Life.
Houston was the best choice of all possible dorms, including Bush and Miller, to go through this transformation process, King said. She admitted that upperclassmen did not want to give up Miller to the freshman because of its large rooms.
The 40 rooms currently reserved for sophomores in Houston Hall will be moved across the Residential Quad to Miller Hall next year.
The transformation of Houston seems to resonate well with those students who have experienced Tilton living. "I would have better grades if I lived in another dorm, but Tilton has created a family for me at Tufts," freshman Tara Cocchiarella said.
Another freshman, Ana Jones, noted that living among freshman is comforting because "we are all going through the same situation together." But Jones also mentioned that it was important to get to know the upperclassmen because they are a valuable source of information. Such interactions may prove more difficult with so many freshmen living in first year only dorms.
Some Tilton residents said that negative aspects of all-freshmen living were that cliques formed among floor residents, but said that this was a normal consequence of living on a floor with excited and social freshman. Other Tilton residents argued that the groups of friends they made on their floor contributed to their freshman year experience and fostered a sense of Tilton pride that has lasted throughout their for four years.
Students who lived in mixed dorms had a different perspective. Junior Amy Aquino-Thomas valued living among upperclassmen her freshman year. Aquino-Thomas said that upperclassmen are a "helpful resource" and that living in a dorm like Tilton might have limited her group of friends to all freshmen.
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