UA votes to integrate freshmen

For years, the Quadrangle has embodied the phenomenon of college life that freshmen have dreamed about for much of their adolescent careers. However, in recent years, the University has become adamant about its desire to integrate students via the college house system, no longer reserving the Quad strictly for freshmen and their college fantasies. This Sunday, the Undergraduate Assembly voted to pass a proposal on Cross-Dorm Freshman Interaction, which would encourage college houses to use already existing funds to sponsor integration events for freshmen. The proposal calls for freshman halls to have "mixers" with other freshman halls from different college houses. UA member and College sophomore Lauren Dooley helped to draft the new proposal after accepting that the University would not permit an all-freshman dorm. Dooley said it would contradict the goals of the University to model Penn's college house system after others in the Ivy League, which emphasize house loyalty and room retainment during the students' duration at school. In the beginning of this academic year, the UA sent out a survey to freshmen residing in predominantly non-freshman dorms about current living conditions. Although many responded that they appreciated the wisdom of upperclassmen and enjoyed their privacy, the overwhelming response was that freshmen want to meet other freshmen. By being denied that opportunity, they felt they were missing a part of the college experience. This led UA member and College freshman Pooja Lakshmin to "brainstorm a lot of ideas about what was wrong" with the current situation and to help find a way that will better allow freshmen from all college houses to socialize with each other. Wharton sophomore and UA campus life committee chairperson Yelena Gershman hopes this will be an effective solution. "We're hoping [the college houses are] going to take advantage of this good idea," Gershman said. She added that freshmen "really have a lot to gain from this." Although the proposal was passed in a landslide 20 to 1 vote, the job of the UA's Campus Life Committee has merely begun. They will first introduce the proposal to administrators during a meeting this Friday with Director of College Houses and Academic Services Leslie Delauter and Associate Director of the Department of Housing and Conference Services Eleanor Rupsis. Dooley said that although the UA would welcome the opportunity to help with any additional planning of such activities, she feels that they "have done their part, and now [the UA wants] the college house system to take over."