The Grinncll Scarlet and Black, October 31,1975—p.5

student, living—-

9/3 the majority of Grinne/l students live in dorms a substantial number live off—campus. The 9 7
ents who live in college—owned housing cite, the homey atmosphere and cooking their own meals

dvantages to their living arrangements.

:Non-co-ops: a place to share interests

by Debbie Weiner
ﬁrive oil-campus college owned
houses in Grinnell provide an
alternative to dorm or coop living.
The students live together in the
houses, but eat on campus and, tor
“he most part, receive maid ser-
vice, Three tRussian, Latin-
American, and French) are
project houses, and the other two
tRandom House and Browns
Housel are groups of friends.
People living in the houses
overwhelmingly agree that in spite
oi a few problems, they are better
off than dorm dwellers. Most think
the general atmosphere oi the
"houses is more congenial and
homerlike.
In the project houses, group
activities help to draw the people
'oser together. Russian House
rves as a center for all Russian
students. Many activities spon»
sored by the Russian department
take place there. Every other
’ Wednesday different programs are
presented ieaturing slide shows,
professors or students. Slavic
Weekend, held in the spring. is

organized in part by students irom

houses have treasurers to
heiriﬁoks and keep track
s. Coops may request
ds, u are similar to
nds in that a certain
t‘ money is allocated per
per student. Pine Tree
planning a Halloween
ng these iunds while the
Street Coop has never

rs oi the coops expressed
ideas concerning their
or unity with the college
ty. While some members
30 Ea§§treet Co-op felt
they leved it was of
choosing. They did not
be amidst people all the
Morton, House

Pine Tree House.

. herseli isolated only
he does not eat at SAGA
chance to meet the fresh-
Othelgise, she feels co-op
es not prevent her from
ting in college activities.
co House members do not
ted at all. They have
on campus and invite
er for dinner frequently.
iVidual decides the in-
t he desires with the
ommuw while living off

ity oi co—ops is an aspect
embers enjoy. Living
in houSthome conditions
ore communication and
ip. ’i‘ members are
have iun together,"
se at first had some
s of‘disunit and ill»
between mem ers which
quired hard work and
ise to resolve.
lly, it seems cu-ops offer
g m’Be than dorms and
cipants are pleased that
t as an alternative

Lee Hi

ggs. one oi ninety-one students living it the nin'
ii uses, helps to prepare an‘eveningme

Russian House. According to
Lance Murty. house coordinator,
“we’re pretty much a unit."

Latin-American House also
plans many activities lor the year.
The efforts of the Whole house go
into organizing Latilernlerlcan
Week, which will he held
November 5-12. “This (Latin-
American week) is one way we
really get to know each other,”
says Gwen Schoficld, Its purpose is
to encourage people to take an
interest in the Spanish language
and Latin-American culture, Other
activities include house parties
(about three per semester), hire
thday parties, housc dinners,
parties with Latin-American
people oi Grinnell, and the weekly
radio show,

But the main reason for the
“friendlier" atmosphere is just
that the students live together in
the houses and function somewhat
as a family unit, Said .lim
Haywood of French House, “the
dorms are homey, but the house is
even more homey.“ Most agree
that quiet is easier to come by, but,
as a student at Random House

He lives in

expressed it, “a general
merriment exists when people are
together,” Brown House has house
dinners every other week and
small parties throughout the year
for house members and their
friends Says Kevin McCabe, house
coordinator, the parties are
“extremely inlormal. We just get
together and do things when we
want."

Unlike co-op houses, buying and
cooking food is not a major cone
ccl'n Everyone in Russian,
Random, and Brown houses are on
board. However, iullyeouipped
kitchens are available. Two people
in LatineAmerican house and Six
people in French house cook their
own lncals regularly John llamby
of French House likes being off
board. “Sometimes we have bad
meals, but that‘s our fault.” He
feels cooking [or himself saves
money. Otherwise room and board
charges ior oncampus non~co>op
dwellers are the same as in the
dorms, except for a $25.00 damage
deposit,

The bedrooms in the houses are
generally larger than in the dorms,

All the houses except French house
have maid service for the other
rooms. French House rotates the
jobs among its members. House
meetings are held whenever
necessary. According to Nancy
Gusfaison, “Cooperation in tLann
American House) is really goo: .”
Most oi the people In the other
houses feel the some way, although
one Student In French House
thought it was “not too wcll
organized . .everyone is too busy
and it‘s hard to get people
together.”

For the language houses, a
common interest in ioreign
language is a unifying factor.
LatinaAmcrican House members
speak Spanish “as much as
possible," Commented Rima
Miller, “LaflnrAmcrican lnusic is
very important in this house; a
major iniluence in its at
mosphere.” Juan Tapia, of
Panama City, Panama, is the only
native Latins/American living

there. The members oi Russian
House speak their language only
occasionally. as do those in French
House.

Housing options

The majority oi the

members tn the three houses are
not majoring in the respective
languages.

Members of the houses had

various reasons ior moving off»
campus. Many wanted an escape
from dorm liic and the opportunity
to “try something new" Some
were interested in the project
aspect of the houses. Many people
in Random and Brown houses
wanted the chance to live with a
group or iriends. Six people in
Random House are carry-overs
from last year.
Most offrcampus dwellers don't
feel isolated from the rest of the
college. Eating in Cowles or Quad
provides a close tie with the
campus All have irienos on
campus, and many are involved in
campus activities, Latin»American
and Russian houses sponsor many
activities which stimulate Contact
between on and offrcampus
students, According to Juan Tapia,
“We're very wellrknown in the
college . . , we feel we’ve been an
asset to he Grinnell College
community."

to be considered

by Susan Green»Crini
Assistant Dean of
Student Affairs

By the end of this semester some
difficult housing decisions for 1976-
77 will have to be made, Currently
we have housing capacity, in
cludlng the onscampus brick
buildings and the off-campus
college-owned houses, for an
enrollment of 1250 students, AS
most of the campus knows, our
present enrollment is 125 short oi
that figure. With very ﬂexible
policies of room assignment, i.e.
doubles iunctioning as singles and
additional study rooms, there is
still available space in the
residence halls. We do. however,
need to reevaluate the current
housing situation and decide how
we can cut down on existing
housing, while preserving the
housing options we now have.

With more housing than
students, we confront two major
difficulties. The first is the impact
on the overall college budget; it
costs the same amount to operate
the residence halls Whether or not
they are full. The second is the
quality oi residence hall living at
Grinnell. Aside from 9 colleges
owned off—campus houses which

‘ can accommodate 111 students

’\ .
Photo by Dave Kaman

ollegc-owncd ‘ oil-campus
Eettstrsstﬂtena

I«»|in..x--i

(and currently house 91), we have
about 170 students, mostly juniors
and seniors, living oiicampus in
non college-owned housing. As a
reSIdential college which stresses
the integration oi day-today living
and academic pursuits, having so
many students cit campus upsets
the class balance in the residence
halls.

if we want and need more
students in the reSldence halls, for
both financial and ”residential
living" reasons, the halls have to
be desirable living alternatives to

'o‘iicampushouses and apartment

living. situations. Especially,‘since .

last spring, the college has com-
mitted resources to improve the
physical environment of the
residence halls and intends to
continue exploring ways ot making
onscampus living comiortable and
desirable.

Basically for 1976-77 we face two
major options, whether his
divxdually or in combination. We
can either close two or more off-
campus houses or limit the number
of students who live in non college-
owned housing. The rationale for
closing college houses is that they
could potentially be converted into
faculty or other rental housing.

The off-campus housing situation
has developed over a number oi
years. When.there was a large
enrollment, it was advantageous to
adopt a policy of allowing all
juniors and seniors to live off-
campus. With a lower enrollment
there is less need to have students
off~campus, yet the number has
increased, At the same time, we
don’t want to eliminate completely
any oi the present housing options.

Housing decisions do affect
students. In order to make
decisions that will answer the
expectations of students and
provide housing alternatives that
students want, we need to have
student response in electing
housing options ior next year. We
would like to encourage students to
think about these choices and their
financial necessity. Later in the
semester there will be publicized
an open Housing Committee
meeting to discuss various options
and to present the possibilities in
more detail. We would like ills
terested students, on and offs
campus, to attend that meeting
and to contribute to decisions that
certainly are necessary, but which
affect the quality oi student life at
Grinnell., ~- - , .

"ti;

 

