COLUMN: Creating community

From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '96 From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '96A residential college system could work atFrom Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '96A residential college system could work atPenn, if administrators start from scratch. From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?", Fall '96A residential college system could work atPenn, if administrators start from scratch.Imagine, if you will, in the tradition of Orwell and Huxley, a city where the population is clearly divided into distinct groups, separated by demographic barriers more divisive than the Great Wall. Although the people work for the same goal, the acquisition of knowledge, they rarely share intellectual thoughts. I hate to be predictable, but you guessed it: I am going to claim this dystopian existence is ours. While life at Penn isn't all that bad, it definitely tends toward this grim construction. Segregation, both racial and otherwise, lack of tradition, anti-intellectualism, crime and a homogenous social life threaten the quality of education at our University. But there exists an antidote which, adopted for the long term, would mitigate these harms and push Penn over the top. Penn needs a residential college system. Essentially, such a system would be modeled after those at Yale, Rice and Harvard. While there are several variations on the residential college theme, Penn could benefit most from a system where all freshmen would live together in a dormitory like the Quad. (Our current notion of "college houses," Hill, Stouffer, and Ware, would be scrapped.) Although freshmen would not live in one of Penn's 14 residential colleges, they would arrive on campus already randomly assigned to one. They could begin to identify themselves with their respective college (or "house," as the institutions are known at Harvard) from the very beginning. After their first year, students would be required to move into their college, where they would stay for most of their undergraduate careers. (Perhaps seniors would have the option to move off-campus). These new colleges would possess none of the stigmas our "college houses" currently do, for their populations would be random. Before examining the benefits of such a massive restructuring of residential life at Penn, I will address some of the major alterations that must accompany it. First, and most obviously, the physical nature of our school would have to change. Except for the Quad and possibly Kings Court/English House, all existing undergraduate dorms would need to be demolished. Several new colleges could be built where Superblock and Hill House currently stand. In addition, the University could use currently vacant property and purchase more for construction of the remaining colleges. The colleges would be physically distinct from one another, but each would be built in a tasteful, historically respected architectural style. The colleges would be places where students want to live. The floor plans would not be typical halls of bedrooms with the occasional bathroom. They would, for the most part, be apartment-style residences with kitchens and living rooms for every five or six students. The benefits of this arrangement are manifestly obvious. First, a college house system would provide Penn with the unity it so desperately needs. Although undergraduates would be divided into the colleges, they would be unified in a greater sense. At Harvard, housemates take pride in their performance in intramural sports, while at Rice the colleges compete for the honor of throwing the best party. Also, such arrangements foster tradition, a notion which has been lost at Penn due to our size. The college system would break the University down into more personal, manageable groups. Suppose, for example, that Penn shrinks its undergraduate population to 8,000 over the next 50 years. With 14 colleges, each student would have a community of about 550 peers in which to operate, although relationships outside of one's college would be entirely commonplace as well. Another benefit of the residential college system is the balance it would provide for campus social life. At a school currently dominated by the Greek system, colleges would be another place to hang out. Fraternities and sororities would function as ways to socialize with the University as a whole, while colleges would be permanent, small-scale social environments. The existence of one would not threaten the other. A residential college system would also foster a better atmosphere intellectually. While University President Judith Rodin and English Professor Al Filreis currently strive to force academics on students in their dorms, the college system would allow students to have intellectual interaction at their own pace. The current problem with intellectual exchange at Penn is that students are isolated in their apartments in the high rises or off campus, and really only speak with their own circles of friends. In the colleges, interaction with others would be more commonplace, yet would stop short of being intrusive. Finally, a college house system would deter crime. Because Penn has no real campus, but rather a sprawling property to and from which many students commute, it presents a prime opportunity for muggers and other undesirables. If students inhabited a more formally demarcated area, it would be much easier to patrol and necessitate less unsafe travel. Undoubtedly, a consolidation of students would also please West Philadelphia residents, who routinely gripe about the undergraduate presence in their neighborhood. While the University should not to ignore or neglect its surroundings, it would be well served by distinguishing itself from them. The changes I have proposed are extremely radical, not to mention wildly expensive. That is why I have labeled this initiative long-term. No one who reads this column will directly benefit from it, but the adoption of a residential college system at Penn -- and a transformation of the University to a well-functioning and pleasant place of higher learning -- could make the dystopian images I described just a bunch of bad dreams.