The Evolution of the College Dorm

Posted by joemunte on September 21, 2008 · 1 Comment 

Adapted from Time.com

Before the information superhighway, schools were built around massive libraries, like the 400-year-old Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, above, in Britain. Early dorms were imposing, monastic structures meant to separate students from the outside world, providing more privacy for classes and introspection. This concept of the Ivory Tower lasted for decades. “If you look at the dorms of the Harvard Yard, the windows and doors are all on the yard side,” says Jonathan Zimmerman, director of the New York University’s History of Education Program. “Basically, what you see from the outside is a wall.”

Student Seclusion

In the 1940s, with most of the country’s college-age men serving in World War II, more women began applying to universities — and getting accepted. Female-only dorms were erected, and if early rules for male students seemed harsh, the university guidelines for female co-eds were draconian. Women were not allowed in male dorm rooms at any time, and curfews continued to dictate their movements around campus until well into the 1960s. But students found creative ways to skirt these restrictions; some sent messages to the opposite sex via Morse Code in the form of flashing lights across campus, like the young lady pictured here

Dorm Espionage

As student activism spread across campuses in the late 1960s, female students began protesting gender segregation — not only in the dorms, but at schools in general. Women at Barnard College in Manhattan, the sister school to Columbia University, staged several protests called “bed-ins” to demand equal access to education. (Despite the protests, Columbia continued to deny female students until 1983.)

Bed-In

Gradually, colleges began offering unisex residence halls, where men and women could mingle freely. Some schools, including Brown, Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania, have taken the trend even further, offering unisex rooms and bathrooms.

 

Hallway Hullaballoo

 While state and federal funding dwindles and demand for college degrees continues to rise, tuition rates have soared — as has the need for better amenities to justify the higher expense. From 1995 to 2004, just 17% of the 113 residence halls constructed on college campuses were traditional dorms, according to the Association of College and University Housing Officers International; the vast majority were apartment-style suites. This fireplace, at the newly opened Vista del Campo Norte dormitory at the University of California at Irvine, was built by American Campus Communities, one of the nation’s largest student-housing developers.

 

More Buck, More Bang

American Campus Communities surveys students each year to find out what they like. Since 1996, ACC has developed more than $1.5 billion in properties for university clients, and has acquired in excess of $2 billion in student-housing assets. Some critics argue such grand accommodations distract students from college’s real purpose. “The undergraduate university experience should be about getting kids to answer the basic question, ‘What is a life worth living?’” argues Jonathan Zimmerman, director of New York University’s History of Education Program. “By making all these lovely things for the kids, we’re answering that question for them.” Rutgers University’s $55 million Rockoff Dorm features a Coldstone Creamery, a 7/11 and a state-of-the-art gym; residents also enjoy grocery delivery, room cleaning and laundry services. One hitch: Rockoff is only open to juniors and seniors. “If you have all the things you need in your own unit, you never go outside,” says Joan Carbone, Executive Director of Residence Life at Rutgers, who believes traditional dorms offer the best environment for freshmen interaction. And while some schools use high-end housing to draw prospective freshmen, Carbone says Rutger’s academic record is appealing enough: “We don’t have to go into the arms race to attract students.”

 

Rec at Rockoff

But, not everyone agrees with the luxury-dorm fad. At Berea College in Kentucky, school administrators have adopted a unique approach to the problem of strangled budgets and coddled kids: Dorms are furnished by the college crafts workshops, cafeteria food is provided by the school’s farm, and students are required to work 10 hours a week in various campus jobs. “It’s about identity and the culture you want to develop,” says Gus Gerassimides, the college’s assistant vice president for student life. “Ultimately every community has choices to make. It’s who you choose to be.”

 

Bucking the Trend

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