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February 08, 2005
Letter to the Editor: Reviving Hamline’s Res Life
In an effort to generate some campus discussion not only between students, but also between faculty, staff, and administration, I want to ask this question: What does Hamline University want for the makeup of its student body?
I ask this because Hamline tries to straddle a line between being a “commuter campus” and a “residential campus.” At this point, I am not sure we do either of them very well and there should be a decision made as to which area is more important to the campus.
Look at it this way, the first year students living on our campus are numerous and the percentage is somewhere around 85%. However, by the time students are in their third year, that percentage drops to around 9%. Clearly, there is some mechanism and mindset in place that is encouraging first years to live on campus. Those reasons could be experience, getting connected, wanting to meet people, etc.
At the same time, there are reasons why a huge percentage of the older “Hamline-ites” are leaving. These reasons could be money, wanting to be independent, not liking how Hamline does Residential Life, etc. I don’t have anything other than my own observations to go off of, but I think these are legitimate reasons.
If Hamline wants to focus on building community and having positive Hamline experiences outside the classroom, then there should be no disputing that Residential Life should become a priority for this school.
I have given many tours of the halls, and I always get the sense that the prospective students are somehow under whelmed at seeing a collapsed couch in Drew and a VCR that didn’t work in Sorin. When HIRC and the Hall Councils did the laundry surveys in the fall, there was one constant and that was that people had something to complain about, even if it had nothing do with laundry.
I think there is a very good argument to be made that students that choose to live on campus are more active and involved in more areas of Hamline than just the classroom, however more resources are needed to retain these students as they get older.
At the same time, if there is a desire to improve the conditions for commuter students, then what is currently in place doesn’t do them justice. The commuter lounge isn’t really a lounge, but rather an empty classroom with a few extras, there should be a much larger room with some quality equipment. The student body as a whole would benefit greatly if we bit the bullet and just built a new student center.
If I had things my way, I would focus a lot more attention on the dorms and apartments. I would bulldoze the Heights and erect a new dorm. (I love the Heights, lived there for 3 years but they need to go).
Put more features into the dorm, more laundry machines, add a technology lab to the building. Students at
Hamline will live on campus as they continue their education, there just need to be more reasons to do that.
Jon Guyer
HIRC President
Posted by msveum at February 8, 2005 04:21 PM