Living and learning programs confront an uncertain future

Imagine trying to squeeze a small, formerly autonomous residential program into the financial and administrative structure of one of the new college houses next fall. Think that's tough? How about trying to fit that same one program into two different houses. That's the dilemma facing two living and learning programs, currently based in both King's Court/English House and the high rises. By next year, each program will have to devise a way to maintain unity between sections of the program governed by two college houses with separate budgets, staffs and activities. For all of the living and learning programs --Ewhich will be renamed "residential programs" -- the move to a college house system presents some confusion about the role of these smaller programs within the larger houses they inhabit. But for the Science and Technology Wing and the Perspectives in the Humanities Program -- which now occupy space in both King's Court/English House and the high rises -- the new system raises questions about how the two sections will retain their connection while becoming part of two different college houses. The humanities program met Wednesday night to discuss concerns about next year. Members created a committee to meet with professors working on the residential programs, according to College senior Christa Beranek, the program's student manager. Residential Faculty Chairperson Al Filreis said the new college house system will allow each program the freedom to decide its level of interaction within its house. "These residential programs will be able to grow and shrink according to interest or affiliate with another house," said Filreis, an English professor. "They can be separate from the house they live in or can affiliate loosely with their house, and they will all be able to have their own graduate advisors and residential advisors." While some objections to the new system -- like protests over the combination of Van Pelt and Modern Languages college houses -- have taken an ugly turn, English Professor Toni Bowers, who oversees the humanities program, stressed that the committee is for "communication, not confrontation." The main concern for both STWing and the humanities program is maintaining some connection between the King's Court and high-rise sections. "How will our program, which is currently split between two buildings? exist under the college house system, and how will we have an appropriate level of interaction between the two?" Beranek asked. Filreis said the new system will actually solve the problems that forced these programs to split into two segments in the first place. As the residential system now stands, STWing and Perspectives in the Humanities students had to move out of King's Court after their freshman year, forcing administrators to create an affiliated section of each program in the high rises. Filreis said both sections can now move into the same building, since the new system aims to integrate students from every year into each house. Some students like having the flexibility to participate in these programs while being able to also choose where they live, said Bowers, who lives in King's Court/English House. Beranek emphasized the need to renovate King's Court/English House, which is now a freshman-only dorm, before upperclassmen members of living and learning programs will want to live there. If the programs do continue to span two buildings under the new system, students and faculty associated with them said they are optimistic about their ability to retain control over program budgets, staff and activities. "I think that we will be able to receive positive responses to our requests, but it's just the type of thing where we wanted to go on the record and say that our program is working and we want to keep it," Bowers said. Electrical Engineering Professor Jorge Santiago-Aviles, who as King's Court/English House's senior faculty resident oversees the STWing program, also voiced his hopes. "They have built a lot of latitude into the program," Santiago-Aviles said. "I think it will be in the best interests of everyone concerned if the administration adjusts the requirements to accommodate programs that have shown they have the favor of the students, and I have faith that that is what is going to happen."

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