Consulting firm suggests major dorm changes

Two new reports would create "communicite" that unify living and school. St. Louis, Mo. The vision for residential life at the University developed over the past year will transform campus housing into multi-year "residential communities" that unify living and academics while maintaining the high level of student choice already available. The Biddison Hier consulting firm -- which the University hired in August 1996 to analyze the condition of current facilities -- offered a plan focusing on structural changes to the buildings that could support more community-based residences. And a report from a committee chaired by Art History Professor David Brownlee detailed programmatic aspects of the residential communities, building on Biddison Hier's recommendations. When the recommendations are implemented, campus housing will be divided into about 16 "residential communities" of about 400 to 500 undergraduates. Administrators hope to erase existing boundaries between first-year housing and upperclassmen living. All undergraduate students can choose to live in the community they prefer -- some of which will be based around common interests or academic pursuits, like the existing college house and living/learning programs. Each community will house students of all years. For example, a community in the Quadrangle could include typical first-year style double rooms alongside a few three-bedroom apartments with kitchens and bathrooms for upperclassmen. The goal is to create a more mixed environment, administrators said. The officials involved in the plans emphasized that students will retain an unparalleled range of choices. Although no one will be forced to live on campus, the reports aim to make remaining on campus a more desirable option. Every community will provide certain functions to all on-campus residents, including around-the-clock advising and academic support in disciplines such as math, writing, computing and foreign languages. The communities will also all include study and common space, as well as computer laboratories, and officials plan to provide designated areas for each community in the dining halls around campus. In order for it to succeed, the system will also need to attract faculty into residences. Each community will house a faculty master, other professors and a resident dean. The deans would oversee administrative aspects with the assistance of student staffers. About 10 graduate students will live in each community, supplementing residential advisors and assisting the faculty in residence. After implementing the communities, administrators hope to encourage an additional 10-12 percent of undergraduates to remain in campus dormitories. The current residential system is about 88 percent occupied, and administrators expect a 95 percent occupancy rate under the new system. Most of these communities will be located within existing dormitory buildings, which will undergo major renovations to meet new functions included in the recommendations. Renovations and new construction will completely overhaul and redesign the inside of the high rises, each of which could contain two or three communities. The Brownlee committee's recommendations stem from research conducted by Biddison Hier over the past year, including focus groups and interviews with students and faculty. Their findings indicated that both students and faculty would prefer to live in on-campus housing organized around community models that provided important services and programs. By the fall, administrators will have a rough timetable for implementation, Provost Stanley Chodorow said.