Vice Provost considers bolstering college houses

Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson has drafted a report containing suggestions to strengthen college houses and their educational mission, in part by encouraging more faculty and students to live in college houses. The current house system includes all University residences, Director of Academic Programs in Residence Chris Dennis said yesterday. Dennis said the ultimate goal of any change is expand the number of undergraduates living on campus. "The report's intention is to maximize student-faculty interaction and extend the ideas operating in our current house system," Dennis said. Morrisson emphasized that the report was only a starting point for further discussion and study. "I see this as a beginning of a discussion," Morrisson said last night. "I hope that there will be a wide-ranging discussion within the University community about this." Dennis said any change will take years or decades to complete. "This is a very long-term study," he said. "The object is try to imagine and think about options for the future and not to be limited by what we currently have, but be looking 10 or 20 or 30 years down the line." Dennis said the proposed house system will be suited exclusively to the University, although it may include some elements of the college house systems currently in other Ivy League institutions and several British schools. Community House Senior Faculty Resident Peter Conn said yesterday that the report's outline does not involve the addition of any new buildings or facilities. "The report assumes most of the residential facilities we have remain in place with no massive construction projects at least in the near future," Conn said. But Dennis said that eventually new structures would be both necessary and desirable. "We need to think about how to adapt using the development of the campus imaginatively in trying to envision new structures and new uses for current structures to accomodate more students," Dennis said. "One of the things we have to look at, and which the report addresses, is the place of technology will play in new structures." Dennis added that there are now about 7,000 residential living spaces on campus and that new structures will be necessary to house undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in the future. The specifics of any future residence changes and the cost those changes might involve are not addressed in the report, according to Conn. Currently there are 25 faculty members living in University residences, Dennis said. He said ideally more faculty live on campus in the future. "Morrison's report is not an attempt to deal with budgets or determine particular details of implementation," Conn said. "These factors are up in the air, but the [report] provides a very articulate set of assumptions. It does not attempt to answer any questions because it is not the time for that." Conn called the document "a wonderful starting point" and said that it will now move into the public arena for discussion and debate. Both Conn and Dennis said they applauded Morrisson's historical approach to the issue of residential living at the University. "What Kim Morrison has done makes a great advance on where we've been going for twenty years and on the other hand is very compatible with [past studies]," Conn said. Dennis said that he believed the suggestions Morrisson makes in the report are less radical than those put forth in a 1960s proposal that called for the building of a residential college house. The proposal was abadonned prior to the building of the High Rises. The executive board of the Faculty Senate was informed of the report's existence by President Sheldon Hackney at their monthly meeting Wednesday night, but the board has seen the report, according to Faculty Senate Chairperson David Hildebrand. Hildebrand said he believes that the executive board will discuss the plan in greater detail at their next meeting. Most of those faculty members who have seen the report say they are very excited about its content. "I think there's very significant excitement about the plan and its ability to shape undergraduate life at Penn in the same way the changes of the 1970s changed life for here at the University for subsequent generations," Dennis said. Conn praised the document's effort to create a more intellectual environment at the University. "[The report] is an exceptional and eloquent educational statement which describes an exciting vision of undergraduate life on this campus," Conn said. Both Conn and Dennis said the time-frame of discussion will be set by Morrisson.