Conor Daly: A well-intentioned plan for off-campus living

Aiming to raze the common perception that its work does not have a great effect on the Penn experience of the average undergraduate and continuing its quest for relevancy on this campus, the Undergraduate Assembly announced this week a very ambitious goal of sparking an "evolution" in off-campus living through its "Block Project" concept. The plan, outlined in a UA resolution passed weeks ago, aims to create a greater sense of community within our off-campus neighborhoods by appointing RA-like "block captains" to conduct social events and creating a study space complete with old computers (probably the always perfectly functioning computers that used to reside on the first floor of Van Pelt Library) beginning with the perceived nucleus of off-campus living, Beige Block. A strange animal, this plan would encompass much of what defines living in the college house system, but participation by students, as has been emphatically declared, would not be obligatory. Critics of the plan, and frankly, those of the Undergraduate Assembly in general who never miss a chance to deride the organization, wasted no time before expressing their skepticism about its potential for success and rejoined that the UA, in launching such an initiative, is targeting the wrong audience. After all, people who move off campus, like myself, do so out of their own volition, and few lament the loss of a nosy RA, hall meetings or Dawson's Creek Night in the lounge when they leave the college house system. These were my thoughts when I was one of maybe four UA members who also live off campus to vote against this proposal when we considered it a short time ago. Unlike most members, we lacked the expectation that the project would work as envisioned and did not relish the idea that any money would be wasted on holding social and educational events that few students, if any (except, of course, for the block captain's friends whom he roped into coming) would attend. Although it is the cornerstone of the strategy, the "block captains" idea is clearly not the aspect with the most potential for success. However, this plan ought not to be totally discarded, as at least one portion of the proposal could perhaps have its desired effects, thereby awarding the UA some street credibility -- the creation of an off-campus community center with study space and computers. Detractors might say that even that piece of the project would go the way of the "block captain," as there are already plenty of spacious places to study, and the prospect of using old computers isn't quite as enticing as working on those nice new ones in Huntsman Hall (if you have a Wharton ID, that is). This is somewhat true; after all, we're Penn kids, and we won't accept anything but the best. But maybe we do when something exists whose convenience masks whatever concerns we may have for the quality of its amenities. Case in point: the Dental School Library. For the past two years, and up to the point when the "Department of Libraries" began to shut out undergraduates from using the study space, the Dental School Library would be flooded with undergraduates who live off campus during the usual test seasons. This phenomenon occurred not only because Van Pelt and other libraries were frequently crowded but also because it has a convenient location and despite its rather ordinary character and resources that pale in comparison to those offered elsewhere. A new study center would likely assume this role and, as a result, come to be highly valued by off-campus residents. Similarly, the convenience of having computers in this new center would be greatly treasured. When it comes to Internet access, college house residents do not know how good they have it. Internet access at off-campus houses is often extremely unreliable, as is the tendency of service providers to come and wire houses when they say they will, a problem that often leaves many off-campus residents without home Internet access for the first few months of school. Clearly, the conditions are present that would make the establishment of a study and computer center a likely vehicle through which a greater sense of community among off-campus residents would gradually develop, due simply to personal interactions at the center. It's true, students do move off-campus for good reasons, ranging from a desire for independence to a dislike of the college house system. However, those decisions do not reflect a wholesale rejection of a sense of community with one's neighbors. It is likely that no real sense of community has ever truly developed off campus, apart from ties associated with Greek organizations and those stemming from friendships, because the University has never charted such an ambitious course as that which the UA has outlined. The UA plan is not infallible, but the creation of a community center is at least one of its pieces that should be considered a very worthwhile venture, hopefully the first step in a larger community-building initiative -- one that has never been so boldly attempted and has been a long time coming. Conor Daly is a senior Political Science major from Boxford, Mass.

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