Stiles and Morse frosh: moving somewhere ugly?

Administrators announced over two months ago that construction on Vanderbilt Hall would replace the renovation of one of the residential colleges during the 2002-03 school year, but undergraduates are still wondering about the fate of the over 300 students who inhabit Vanderbilt each year.

REBECCA ROSENTHAL/YH With Vanderbilt Hall slated for renovation next year, incoming freshmen might be moved to a corner-less college or the new college on the corner.

The most recent proposal suggests that Morse and Ezra Stiles students are the most logical choice to inhabit Swing Space during the Vanderbilt renovation. The Administration believes that the colleges' location directly across Tower Parkway would minimize disruption to college life.

While unconfirmed, this possibility is real. Stiles Master Paul Fry sent an e-mail to Stiles students on Fri., Jan. 26, informing them it was "likely" that Morse and Stiles would have to move some of their students. The two colleges must now grapple with the issue of whether to move freshmen into Swing Space or annex their upperclassmen there.

While Fry and Morse Master Stanton Wheeler have both put forward the idea that upperclassmen should remain in the colleges, other Administrators feel that placing Morse and Stiles freshmen in Swing Space with only a few upperclassmen would alienate the freshmen both from their college and their fellow classmates.

Both Morse and Stiles held meetings for students on Tues., Jan. 30. The overwhelming consensus at both of these meetings from the class of 2003 and especially from the class of 2004 (those who as juniors during the 2002-2003 school year would likely be displaced if upperclassmen are asked to leave their colleges) seemed to be that the upperclassmen would prefer to remain in their colleges.

The main concern voiced by many Morse and Stiles students was that removing a large percentage of the sophomore and junior classes from the colleges would weaken their sense of community. The result would be a year in which Stiles and Morse effectively ceased to function as residential colleges.

Elizabeth Arno, MC '03, president of the Morse College Council, said, "If the upperclassmen of the respective colleges were to move to Swing Space, much of the heart of the social life of the college would be removed."

Caitlin Purcell, ES '04, echoed Arno's concern. "I think that upperclassmen are really the leaders of the colleges, and if they are moved out of the college, that leadership role could be disrupted," she said.

Many students feel that the sense of community in the colleges might be further disrupted by this change because of the fact that many students, faced with the choice between living in Swing Space and moving off campus, might choose the latter option. "I think that many more people would probably consider moving off campus," Jaclyn Kessler, ES '04, said.

Arno agreed, adding that students "become disheartened with the college, thus more likely to live off campus the year following their time in Swing Space."

Another topic at the meetings was the effect that the displacement of freshmen would have on their transition to college life. According to many students, common rooms, which exist in nearly all the Old Campus suites, are an essential part of getting to know other freshmen. Many feel that putting freshmen in Morse and Stiles, whose suites mostly do not have central common rooms, might be problematic.

"When you're sitting in your common room, just hanging out, you get to meet lots of other students," Katherine Pustay, MC '04, said. "That's a really important part of freshman year."

"I have found the common room feature of the suites to be an integral part of freshman year dorm life. It provides a place where people who have roommates can go to if they need another place for studying, talking on the phone, or hanging out," Mimi Chough, ES '04, said.

Many students feel that in addition to providing freshmen with common rooms, Swing Space would also be a good place for the freshmen to live because it would offer them with the nearly all-freshmen living environment that they would miss if they lived in their colleges.

Kaitlyn Gumpper, MC '03, chair of the Morse Student Activities Committee, emphasizes the importance of allowing a freshmen-only community. "I think that living on Old Campus last year really added to my overall Yale experience, because it gave me a chance to interact with other members of my class, not just the people in my college." She believed that if Morse and Stiles freshmen are housed in Swing Space, "they will be closer to their college, [and they] will still have a chance to meet and get to know people from their own class who are not in their college."

Despite what Arno described as the "overwhelming consensus" at the Morse College Council meeting that freshmen, rather than upperclassmen, should live in Swing Space, there are those who disagree. Sarah Gray, MC '04, worries that putting freshmen in Swing Space might isolate them. "I think that not only would they be alienated from the rest of the freshmen," she said, "but also from the rest of their residential colleges, in a way that TD and Silliman freshmen are not."

"I think that we have not exhausted all the options, and I would like to think that there is some way that we could avoid putting Morse and Stiles freshmen or upperclassmen in Swing Space," Pustay said.

If this is the case, however, a viable option has yet to be proposed.

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