Dipal Patel: Housing proposal is misunderstood

Ask most students what the Undergraduate Assembly's new housing proposal states, and they'll tell you that it encourages freshman isolation in the Quadrangle, Hill College House and Kings Court/English House. Ask someone who was involved in drafting the proposal what the document is about, and you'll get a much different answer.

Over one month ago, a task force composed of the Undergraduate Assembly Housing Committee, the Residential Advisory Board, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Freshman Class Board was charged with evaluating various aspects of the College House system. Using the results of a representative student survey, the task force made recommendations to Penn Provost Ron Daniels concerning the freshman experience, residential programs, upperclassmen living and house staff. From the time of the initial presentation to this day, there have been countless misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the proposal.

It's time to finally get the facts straight.

There is no centralized "freshman experience." Every freshman comes to Penn wanting a different residential lifestyle; some want to be surrounded by peers of the same class, while some want to be surrounded by upperclassmen that can provide guidance. Most people will try to think of which is better, but what everyone must realize is that it truly depends on the individual. Penn's college houses have the resources to offer both of these experiences to freshmen, but the really tricky part is getting freshmen to the houses that would truly best serve them.

This is the guiding principal of the housing proposal. Not only should freshmen who want a "freshmen-centralized" experience be allowed to get it, but freshmen who want to apply for a "non-freshmen-centralized" experience should be allowed to and encouraged to do so. Not everyone hears of houses like Stouffer and Gregory college houses before coming to Penn, but their lack of publicity is something that can be fixed through better advertising and dissemination of accurate information. These two houses are filled with upperclassmen that are ready to integrate freshmen into the Penn community; to eliminate the choice for freshmen to live in these environments would be a shame.

So where does the controversy come from? Numbers. Currently, the number of freshmen who apply to houses that are not freshman-centralized are lower than the numbers of rooms reserved for freshmen in those houses. The proposal recommends that the number of rooms reserved for freshmen in houses matches the number of rooms requested by freshmen. Placing freshmen in the best-suited environments for their personal desires and needs will not only be beneficial for their experience, but also for the well-being of the house.

A very important aspect of the proposal that always seems to be left out: upperclassmen living. A central aspect to improving the freshman experience involves the placement of upperclassmen. At Penn, there are upperclassmen who do and do not want to contribute to the living experiences of freshmen around them. This again is a difference that must be acknowledged in any decisions. Upperclassmen who do not wish to contribute to the living experiences of freshmen should not be placed in areas that are freshman-concentrated.

And for those upperclassmen who constantly extend themselves as mentors for freshmen, the proposal calls for the expansion of the Upper Class Board system, currently in place in Hill College House. The system would therefore provide freshmen with more guidance and peer support in addition to the mentorship provided by residential and graduate advisers.

What's the most important thing to realize about this process? It's not over yet. A final decision will be made at the end of the semester only after holding forums in each of the college houses for students and staff to voice concerns. We are open to suggestions, and we hope that by working together with students in a less critical and more productive manner we can all make Penn's College House system closer to what we want it to be.

Guest columnist Dipal Patel is an Engineering sophomore and the chairwoman of the Undergraduate Assembly Housing Committee. Her e-mail address is dipalp@seas.upenn.edu.

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