The Board of Trustees recently approved the decision to build an on-campus housing structure that will add 150 new student beds to students’ residence options This decision is the result of a proposed push to attract the bulk of students living off-campus back within College boundaries..
As many as 900 students have lived off-campus in the past in a single semester. “The trustees are determined to make that a smaller number,” Goldsmith said.
There are a number of motivations behind the trustees’ decision including much needed additional revenue due to the College’s budget deficits, a longtime overall shortage of on-campus housing availability, a general need to update residential facilities, as well as a concern to relieve the strain caused by off-campus living on the town of Oberlin.
The College claims that due to groups of students residing in modest single-family homes, Oberlin families of limited income are left with fewer options. “Neighborhoods deteriorate….and property values fall,” Goldsmith stated, when listing the effects of off-campus living on the town.
Oberlin is traditionally a residential campus. “This amount of off-campus living is not allowing us to take advantage of what that means,” Goldsmith said. “Living on campus is good for students’ educational experiences....It helps students to take advantage of the College’s social diversity,” he explained.
Revenue generation, especially since Oberlin is currently facing budget and financial troubles, was also a primary reason the College decided to build another dormitory. “It is very easy to borrow money for building residences because they are money-generating,” Goldsmith said. “The revenue motivations [of the trustees] were not trivial.”
New dormitories have not been built at Oberlin since 1968. “The College has grown by 500 since then, without thought of how to house them and the town has borne the burden,” Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said. “In recent years we have become more forcefully aware of the negative effect [of off-campus living] on the town.”
Oberlin’s current dorms are also simply “very dated,” Goldsmith stated. “Student expectations when it comes to housing have changed quite considerably,” he said. “It is really past time we began to update our residences.”
The College is also concerned about the negative effects of the current dorms on admissions and student retention. Oberlin recently hired a professional consulting firm to determine the motivations of students who leave prior to graduation. “Housing was among the things on the list that make the prospect of remaining at Oberlin for four years unattractive,” Goldsmith stated.
The administration is hoping to incorporate students’ housing desires as much as possible in planning the new residence hall. To ensure this, the new structure, scheduled to open in the fall of 2004, is being designed in part by College students.
“We want to attract upper class students back to campus, not force them,” Goldsmith said.
ResLife created an ad hoc committee of students to act as a sort of focus group to discuss student desires when it comes to living space. “We hope it will be reflective of what students want,” ResLife Director Kim Lafond said. “We’re going to build for students of the 21st century.”
This student committee has met three times, and the College plans to hold an open forum for all members of the student body sometime this semester.
Lafond stated that the committee has expressed their desire for the new structure to be of a low-rise, townhouse style. Students desire more private bathrooms, as opposed to the large co-ed type typical of most dorms on campus. Others stressed the importance of close and reliable parking, units that are not of identical design and are environmentally friendly, as well as a larger degree of freedom to personalize the space. “We’re trying to think outside the box,” Lafond said.
Because the new structure will be specifically for juniors and seniors, the College is considering allowing a greater degree of freedom and privacy to the students who will live there. This could mean it would go without RA staffing, but instead have something more along the lines of a superintendent. Students may also be able to select a lower meal plan than would normally be required. “We have to hear loud and clear that students are looking for independence,” Lafond said.
A common desire of College upper-class students is to escape the traditional communal feel of living. “One thing I really liked about Oberlin was the fact that it was a residential college, but that a lot of the students also lived off campus later on,” sophomore Allison Shauger said. “You have the opportunity to get an education of how to live life in the real world.”
The administration agrees. “By the time you are an upper class student, you’re looking for something else,” Goldsmith said. “Students move off campus for a sense of independence and autonomy. We want to replicate that to the most reasonable degree possible.”
The College plans to add yet another 150 beds in the future, although the time that this eventuality will occur has yet to be decided by the trustees.
The construction plan is still in its infancy. An architect has not yet been hired and a budget has not yet been decided on.