The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) believes that all-freshman dorms are the best way to introduce students to Tufts, as indicated by the announcement yesterday that Hill Hall will be all-freshman next year. This will, however, only exacerbate the housing shortage for upper-classmen and make inter-class relations worse.
All-freshman residences Tilton and Houston have already proven to be party-central dorms, and these good times can have harmful consequences. The average number of alcohol-related Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) calls to Houston and Tilton in the 2003-2004 school year was 3.46 per 100 students. The average number of calls for all the other dorms was 1.81 per 100 students.
It's natural that freshmen students want to go wild their first year away from home. But stuffing them into their own freshman enclaves encourages them to drink more and party harder: there are no older students to cool down the freshmen. Upperclassmen can also give advice on classes and campus life to freshmen when they live together. When the classes are segregated, it is harder for students to make friends in other years and the number of people students can meet is minimized, diminishing the overall college experience.
ORLL says that it is turning Hill Hall into a freshmen dorm due to increased demand. Hill Hall is not a good dorm to accommodate all freshmen, however, because it has a number of singles that should be used to house upperclassmen. Housing is tight for juniors and seniors, especially until Sophia Gordon Hall is built. More students will be kicked off-campus next year because the singles in Hill Hall will be housing for extra RAs or turned into study halls. This is a waste of accommodation for upperclassmen who, for various reasons, want to live on campus.
Bush Hall would have been a better choice if ORLL decided that it needed to create a third all-freshmen dorm. There is only one non-RA single per floor on Bush, as opposed to five per floor in Hill. Bush is also smaller, allowing for a strong sense of community, which ORLL strives for with its freshman dorms. Its proximity to Tilton also creates a freshman-centered community. If ORLL is determined to split campus housing by year, Bush should house freshmen and Hill should be home to upperclassmen.
