Every year there is a debate of sorts about where is the
best place to live. Of course this is a difficult question because factors such
as cost, proximity to different areas of campus, preference for dining options,
etc. all play into each person’s decision.
In addition to these factors, the simple issue of demand for space in
certain buildings must be considered. In many cases no matter how bad someone
wants to live in a specific building, sometimes there just is not space. The
best example of this is Towers North. Each year we get more than three requests
for each bed in Towers North. With approximately 260 beds and almost 1,000
people who request Towers North as one of their top choice, there are hundreds
of people who do not get to live in North. I have had people threaten that they
will not attend Southeast if they cannot be placed in Towers North (or some
other hall). In these cases, I wish the person well at their new school and
offer to cancel their housing contact so we can work on the other housing
assignments.
After the question (How likely can I get into a certain hall?)
the next common question is “what do I consider the myths about Dearmont”. Now I can speak from two points of view on
Dearmont. As a student, I lived in Dearmont room 3110 and my girlfriend (now my
wife) lived in 2109. In addition, I served as a Hall Director for Dearmont and
now as the Director of Residence Life so I have spent a good amount of time
with this mythical building.
If I could make it happen, I would setup all residence halls
on the Southeast campus like Dearmont. The first thing I would share is the
rooms are setup in a way that really encourages people to engage with one
another. In Dearmont you really cannot hide in your room and not become part of
your floor and residence hall community. Students at Southeast, and at schools around
the nation, often find the ability to get involved and connected to others a
key factor in how well they enjoy and succeed in college. Our own student
satisfaction surveys consistently show that students living in Dearmont enjoy
their college experience at higher levels than students living in halls that
are considered nicer. The reason for this is that community style residence
halls provide more social interaction than apartments or suite style residence
halls.
In terms of the facility, Dearmont was built 1958 and opened
in 1959. When Dearmont was built it did not have air conditioning in the rooms
or other spaces in the building. I often run into students who share
information they learned from a Southeast alumnus who still assumes the same
Dearmont they had from 1959-2008 will be same residence hall it is today. Yes,
the rooms are the same size, and yes the building layout is the same, but
changes have been made to improve the residence hall.
Several days ago, I spoke with a parent who commented that
she lived in Dearmont and her son could not live there because the hall did not
have air conditioning. This was true until 2009. Since this time, we have
installed air conditioner units in each room.
This allows the Dearmont residents to have control over their rooms and
this does not happen in any other hall on campus. After I explained this mother,
she asked if I could place her son into the same room she lived in when she was
a student at Southeast. The mother lived
in Dearmont when it was all female hall and now half the building is for males. It turned out that we were able to place her
son into the same room she lived in a few decades ago.
While there always is a great deal of stress about where
they live, a FAR MORE IMPORTATANT issue is their roommate. I encourage each of
you to use the Roommate Gateway program through the Office of Residence Life or
make an effort over social media to meet people and work on finding a roommate.
If you do not find a suitable roommate that is not a problem, as more than half
our students let the Office of Residence Life choose their roommate. My point
is that if you are going to spend time worrying about where you live next year,
you should refocus your energy on considering whom you live with and what kind
of roommate you will be. If you want to give a little more thought on the
roommate question check out my other entry: How Roommates are like Hell’s
Kitchen http://seorl.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-roommates-are-like-hells-kitchen.html
