Groups consider dorms for frosh only

Last October, the Student Life Committee of the Board of Trustees asked members what they thought of limiting the Quadrangle to freshmen.

Four months later, groups all over campus -- from the Provost's Office to the Undergraduate Assembly -- are considering not just freshman-only housing, but ultimately, the College House experience at Penn.

The UA began distributing a survey to the undergraduate student body yesterday that asked, "Would you support freshmen being assigned to houses that are populated primarily by freshmen, with only a minimal number of upperclassmen?"

UA Housing Committee Chairwoman and Engineering sophomore Dipal Patel, who helped organize the survey, said the issue is pressing.

Right now, "freshman housing is not feasible on our campus," Patel said. "However, we want to see how freshmen view housing."

Currently, most freshmen live in the Quad and Hill College House -- between 65 and 80 percent of Quad residents are freshmen each year. But in Gregory College House, only 45 percent of residents last year were freshmen.

As groups across campus consider revamping the residential system, they see no immediate solution.

College House system officials have been gathering information on the issue for the past two years, but College Houses and Academic Services spokeswoman Sue Smith said the results have not warranted any action.

Smith said that this question has been posed to students via e-mail surveys for the past two years: "How comfortable are you with the diversity of classes in the college houses?"

"Two years running, the highest percentage have said that they are very comfortable" with the mix of classes, Smith said.

And while the "freshman experience" seems to be on many student groups' agendas, Smith added that housing officials found that the age range of fellow residents is not even the top reason why students choose housing.

"The No. 1 thing students apply for when they apply for a room is room type," Smith said.

She added that the most pressing issue was not the desire of students to live in a freshman-centralized system but the fact that Penn has limited housing space for those who apply.

"The question of freshman-only housing has to be framed by the question of occupancy," Smith said. "We clearly need more college housing."

Fisher-Hassenfeld College House houses 70 percent freshmen, but House Dean Jane Rogers said that upperclassmen are still a vital part of the house, and she does not see them moving out any time soon.

"There are always a core of upperclassmen who want to live in the Quad, and I think they should be able to do that," she said. "Until people come forward and tell [upperclassmen] where they should live, I don't see [freshman-only housing] happening."

But to some students who did not spend their freshman year in the Quad or Hill, the prospect of freshman-only housing would have been appealing.

College junior John Kneeland lived in Kings Court/English College House during his first year at Penn and said he did not have a good experience.

"It's very isolated," Kneeland said. A good solution might be "building another Quad-like facility that can hold all the freshmen."

Engineering junior Dan Berger, however, feels strongly about keeping the current system.

"I think this is probably the worst thing that could be done about the College House system, moving all freshman together," he said. "On the surface, it may appear to benefit the freshmen, [but] it's good to have upperclassman around if [freshmen] have questions about anything."

Frosh only? - The Provost's Office has formed a task force to consider freshman-only dorms - A UA survey released yesterday asked students if they were satisfied with their current housing experience

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.