Adding another freshman-only dorm made on-campus housing more dangerous and integration more difficult, a group of students told administrators Tuesday.
The students - four Tufts Community Union senators - made these complaints and others in a meeting with Office of Residential Life and Learning Director Yolanda King and Associate Director Donna Denoncourt.
The senators, all members of the administration and budget committee, raised four key issues, the first of which was all-freshman housing.
Hill Hall was made an all-freshman dorm this year - bringing the number of all-freshman dorms to three, including Tilton and Houston Halls.
Senator Sarasa Poduval, a senior and a residential assistant in Bush Hall, said the change was ill-advised and because it concentrates underage drinking. "They [freshmen] go to drink in the all freshmen residence halls," she said. "My residents go to Houston and Tilton and come back drunk."
The location of Hill Hall is not conducive to integrating freshmen into the rest of the student body, Poduval said. "Creating another all freshman dorm serves to segregate freshmen from upperclassmen," she said.
Poduval said it is important for freshmen to be around upperclassmen to learn to balance schoolwork and social life. Freshmen come to campus with a "skewed perception of college life," she said.
Denoncourt agreed with Poduval that upperclassmen can provide good role models for freshmen.
But Hill was changed to an all-freshmen dorm due to a high number of requests, King said. "The feedback has been overwhelming, in a positive way, for all freshmen housing," she said. "The goal is not to put every freshman in freshmen housing, but the numbers are overwhelmingly high."
The combined capacity of the three all-freshman dorms is 560, and about 1,367 students are in the freshman class, so about 800 freshmen do not live in an all-freshman dorm. There are no plans for another all-freshman dorm, King said.
The students and administrators also discussed the possibility of creating a new housing questionnaire for incoming freshmen.
"There's so much more that can be looked into when choosing a roommate," Senator Justin Feldman, a freshman, said. Feldman recommended adding questions about tastes in music, time spent watching television and alcohol use - which would be illegal for most freshmen.
He also suggested using an online questionnaire service, which he said Emory University has done in the past.
King said she was aware of an online housing questionnaire, which she identified as http://www.webrooms.com. Her office has explored the option, King said, but it costs too much. The Web site did not exist Tuesday night.
Changes to the questionnaire are possible, Denoncourt said, but there should be some room for differences between roommates. "We really think it's important for people to stretch their limits," she said.
Research Denoncourt did five years ago showed no difference in the compatibility of roommates who had been randomly assigned and those who had completed questionnaires.
The third issue discussed was the healthy living option for on-campus housing. Three floors of healthy living in Hill Hall are "not working out," Poduval said.
But Denoncourt said every student on the healthy living floors in Hill requested to be there. The demand for healthy living was so high that many of those who did not get into the floors in Hill were placed on a floor in one of the other all-freshmen dorms, making that floor "unofficial healthy living," she said.
The senators said some sophomores who wanted healthy living did not get it this year, and they asked why the healthy living floor in South Hall was eliminated.
Not enough upperclassmen requested healthy living to continue the South Hall option, Denoncourt said. Only one floor in Carmichael Hall is healthy living for upperclassmen. "We could barely fill Carmichael," she said.
Senator Pooja Chokshi, a freshman, then presented a budget for recreational equipment, such as ping pong and pool tables.
King said she would include the proposal in an upcoming report to Dean of Students Bruce Reitman.
A forum was scheduled for tonight for freshmen to discuss possible changes to the housing lottery, but it has been tentatively rescheduled for next Wednesday. A Senate survey the following day will detail proposed changes and ask for student feedback.
