COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRAUDATE LIFE (CUL)
RESIDENTIAL VISITS -- MINUTES

Nov. 6: MISSION PARK (8 students)

1. The size of residents' rooms is an issue -- they are too small (students feel) (Morgan and Frosh Quad rooms).
2. Frosh don't like Security Officers in their individual suites, and students don't like the "walk-throughs" in general. They want more autonomy/independence.
3. The residential survey needs to be changed to ask about the preferences for common rooms, to include security issues, ease of access, etc.
4. Students want better campus recreational facilities, including those in the campus residences. They want large, common, central spaces -- i.e. a Student Center or big space in all quads (like basements in Frosh Quad).
5. Room draw needs to be improved to alleviate stress on the students.
6. The college needs to help foster the building of a better sense of residential community.
7. The campus needs more student programmable space (i.e. student union multi-purpose room, or a space more like a larger great room in Goodrich -- one with sound and light systems, game rooms, etc.). A renovated Baxter would be great.
8. Lehman is generally not a liked space, especially the basement. Ceiling is an issue.
9. Williams housing system promotes stratification by class, which is a mixed bag for the students.
10. Kitchens and TV rooms are underutilized.
11. College needs to allocate more funding to student activities (i.e. via the Activities Office) and possibly encourage a change in SAC relationship with Activities Office. Would be good if SAC attended NACA conferences and saw what else is out there and what other schools do. Maybe SAC needs to be rethought and expanded.
12. Sophomore advising needs to be improved.

Nov. 12: MARK HOPKINS (16 students)

1. Change room draw: decrease pick size to 4, foster a stronger sense of ownership in the community -- like the positive benefits of fraternities, without the negatives.
2. The possibility of doubles causes anxiety, so get rid of doubles -- guarantee everyone a single for all four years at Williams.
3. If House Presidents were more like Junior Advisors then the sense of community in houses would be greater, and respect for the officers would be greater.
4. Could frosh all be put in Mission and Dodd Quad so that everyone would be together, or disperse Frosh Entries around campus. Opposite ideas, both with supporters.
5. Gender balancing was a concept with mediocre support. Some like, others didn't. Students asked whether or not it would be good to offer 1 or 2 single-gender locations on campus.
6. Encouraging programming standards for house officers may be a good thing, but only if HEF was increased (i.e. one program per week, non-alcoholic, and most more than just parties -- really think).
7. Split house officer positions. Maybe one House President and one Social Chairperson.
8. Alcohol policy needs to be changed. Is totally ineffective and too restrictive.
9. Some interest in rewriting the job description for House President.
10. Fewer parties equal more problems (no parties equal dangerous drinking).
11. Need some good ideas to encourage more social interaction between houses and students.
12. Log should be reopened as an "experiment" (last year). But, more on a full-time daily basis, not a few nights.
13. Should we ban hard alcohol or limit the number of drinks?
14. Seniors should have some perks, especially in housing -- more co-ops!

Nov. 14: SPENCER (8 students)

1. Common spaces are not used as they are not conducive to studying or socializing. They need bigger televisions (with VCRs/DVDs), and why not pool/ping pong/foosball tables? (i.e. Fitch Fridays example from Ami Parekh). These are wasted spaces -- need incentives to hang out and use these spaces
2. Students liked the idea of Mission Park affiliates with row houses, not affiliations with similar houses (i.e. Armstrong/Spencer good, Perry/Wood not good).
3. Row house dining had a really big appeal as it would possibly help to recreate a sense of community within houses or quads. Charles talked about this from when he was a student.
4. Why can't students squat? There was some support for this.
5. There should be more lenient policies on social groupings.
6. We talked about the concept of Cafeteria vs. Dining Hall. Dining Hall promotes social interaction and a homier atmosphere, while cafeteria is cold and not generally perceived as good.
7. House Advisors would be a good thing, like JAs but for Houses. This would be different from House President or Social Chairperson. HAs would act as liaison and link with the administration, and possibly serve more as a facilitator or junior counselor. Need job description for these positions. Talked about the Bowdoin recent grads. positions.
8. There is nothing to do on campus in late night, and this is all week. There is little programmable space and few program choices, especially late. More choices from 11pm-2 am would be good. Possibly, 24 hours spaces would be good for Thurs.-Sat. The snackbar in Baxter and Gyms/Fitness Center need to be open longer.
9. Current party policy and host system isn't working. Hosts don't take role seriously, or those who do don't want to host anymore. Also, students feel like they have to take on too much responsibility -- and the college should assume this. There is a lot of wasted potential -- there should be more open parties.
10. Need more Co-ops. Students like co-op life, and maybe should be open to all students.
11. No big appeal to Theme Housing.
12. Limit room draw to fewer than 8 -- 4 is a good number.
13. When Baxter is renovated, it needs to be more student run -- like Goodrich.
14. Need more programmable space, like a multi-purpose room and lounges in Baxter and in all residential quads.
15. A central campus Bookstore would be great. One place to get textbooks, school supplies, general merchandise, and Williams apparel and memorabilia. Combine Goff's/Williams Shop with McClelland's on Spring Street and Water Street Books. Current system is not very convenient for students.
16. Our student host system is not working.
17. We need to improve funding to student activities and houses/entries.

Nov. 15: DODD (12 students)

1. House affiliations/clusters discussed. Cliques are a problem. Disparate clusters -- would they work? Is distance a problem?
2. More co-ops are needed and should be open to all students.
3. Limit room draw to 4 rather than 8 was a mixed bag. Small groups would possibly increase stress.
4. Adding better kitchens to all houses would be a good thing.
5. Need doors that stay open better than those that close.
6. Mission Park is a problem.
7. Gender balance in residences. How many pick in with mixed gender groups? 25-30%, approximately. Differentiate between larger and smaller dorms.
8. Students need more autonomy.
9. Activity varies from weekend to weekend.
10. Parties -- housing has different types of parties, and there are occasional class parties (1st and Last Chance Dances for seniors only) and Dancing at Dodd are good.
11. We need more events rather than all-campus parties. Make our activities more diverse. Whose responsibility -- the school's or students'? Smaller events are better than all-campus ones -- based on quad or house, but sometimes students want something large (i.e. Swing Club party, comedians once a month at the Log, e.g.).
12. Residential rooms and Log need ability to control temperature.
13. Goodrich works well as a programmable space -- though too small.

Nov. 20: CURRIER (22 students)

1. Students need more parking on campus, parking that is more convenient and not on the periphery of campus.
2. Students want more suites with actual common rooms, not common rooms at the end of the hall (i.e. Mission Park) -- highly desirable.
3. Currier spiral staircase is bad -- it's the only way to get up and down, and to get to the basement. It isolates part of the building, and makes it hard to get laundry to the laundry room.
4. Need more laundry machines (especially in Currier) and tables and counter space would be nice.
5. Students need a better system for expressing concerns or ideas. Maybe improved through better house governance system. (How about common time with house officers (weekly)?) Make more explicit where complaints should be directed.
6. Mission Park fire system needs overhauled so that if an alarm goes off in one half that the other half doesn't need to evacuate -- why do all 6 houses need to evacuate when alarm goes off?
7. Currier rooms need new door knobs, ones that allow residents to unlock door when key lock is turned. Lots of students are always locking themselves out.
8. There is a lack of community, especially in Mission Park and between the classes. Berkshire Quad is great for interclass interaction.
9. One student thought that Colby's quotas by class might be good to integrate everyone at Williams. Students don't like, though!
10. Room draw pick size -- small vs. large vs. randomized. No easy answer! 4 or 5 seems reasonable for a room draw number, versus 8.
11. Affiliations/clusters: the pros are that they promote friendships and growth, the cons are that they are fraternity-like, students are locked into an affiliation in frosh year. Generally, students thought that the bads outweighed the goods.
12. Gender balancing went over like a lead balloon. College wants to prevent another Tyler. Students feel that status quo works.
13. Theme housing met with a luke-warm response, but smoke free/substance free had a bit of support. Maybe there should be a smoking lounge. Maybe a quite residence would work. CUL suggested that students bring up smoking/substances at house meetings to discuss.
14. Party policy needs changing to allow all students to consume alcohol. We know that it will happen, so why don't we let it? Pre-partying is unsafe, and is a consequence of current party policy. Students don't have fun or feel good anymore! College has to be "realistic."
15. Students dislike the antagonism between Security Officers and students. Promotes us vs. them. Students need better relations with officers.
16. New Student Center with games, pub, food, programs, programmable space, late hours. etc.
17. Currier (and other residences) need common bathrooms for events. Bathroom outside of ballroom is terrible during and after events.
18. Students want squatting!
19. Currier needs a better kitchen, not one with laundry room and one that's cleaner.
20. Mission Park is too isolated and there needs a more concerted effort with special programs aimed at the residents.
21. Sophomore class is forgotten.
22. Don't like showers -- called them antechambers rather than showers.

E-mail Your Comments

on Residential Living and Student Life to: cul@williams.edu

E-mail the Committee on Undergraduate Life: cul@williams.edu