Leaders of Games House announced their voluntary decision to dissolve earlier this month because of an inability to meet the minimum membership requirement for program houses.
Games House President Suzanne Gilman '07 described the house as united by the "common belief that playing games forms communities."
Residential Council originally voted to dissolve Games House, located in Olney House, in late 2004. Though members last year "worked very hard to get that decision reversed - and succeeded," Games House has now voluntarily accepted dissolution, according to Gilman.
Gilman said Games House leaders originally heard of the impending disbandment in the final two paragraphs of a December 2004 Herald article. In the article, Adam Deitch '05, who was the council's chair at the time, cited the house's persistent inability to meet membership requirements as well as limited space on campus for program houses as reasons for dissolution.
The minimum membership requirement for program houses in the past has been 24 members, according to Tal Itzkovich '06, chair of ResCouncil's program house committee. This quota was lowered to 22 in the fall of 2005.
"The requirements kept on changing every year," said Eilen Koven '07, the second president of Games House, which was founded in 2001. "The bylaws were extremely vague. They kept setting different numbers."
Itzkovich acknowleged that, "In the past, a lot of stuff hasn't been written down and officialized." He said ResCouncil is trying to "get everything down on paper to set a precedent for everything," adding that the re-organization of the regulations is a "transition process."
Itzkovich said Games House never achieved the Class B status recognizing it as a permanent house. While the classification system has changed over the past couple years - the set of classes has gone from A, B and C to just A and B - Games House has always been a Class A house. This distinction allowed it to abide by more lenient policies for newer houses. Houses are expected to progress to Class B status after a couple of years.
Games House originally had about 10 members. "We've always been very much a niche house," Gilman said.
"We were never that big and never really planned on getting that big," Koven said.
Throughout its existence, Gilman said the house has had about 15 members at any given time. "We didn't think this was an issue, but last year we were told it was."
Itzkovich explained that the requirements are in place to justify allotting amenities like a lounge, library and kitchen to program houses.
"Independents in a program house don't get to use those facilities," he said. "Space for program housing is limited."
When Games House's status was reviewed in the fall of 2004, "It wasn't clear they understood" the need to attract more members to meet regulations, Itzkovich said. Leaders were told to increase the house's membership to 22 to avoid disbandment.
Last spring, Games House recruited 10 new members during a "marathon rush," Gilman said. Unfortunately, following the rush period, two members of Games House took medical leave.
Because there was "absolutely no way we could make 22 members," the residents of Games House decided to disband in what Gilman called a "very, very painful" decision during the last meeting of the fall semester.
"I was worried that I was going to piss a lot of people off," Gilman said.
However, she added that most members and alums "agree with the decision that we could not make the numbers."
Gilman said there is "a lot of overlap with (Technology) House and St. Anthony Hall," which she identified as "more established houses."
Itzkovich echoed this belief, saying, "Giving them such a large space wasn't justified. There's a lot of overlap between them and Tech House, which they themselves brought up."
Now, in the application process for program houses, groups must prove that they are a unique entity. "The application in the past has been really iffy," Itzkovich said. "If Games House tried to apply this year for program house status, they probably wouldn't get as far as they did in the past."
Each year, ResCouncil is often unable to offer space to new houses applying for program house status. "We got four applications for new program houses this year and were only able to choose one of the four," Itzkovich said.
"I feel bad that we had to get rid of them," Itzkovich said."Even a small community is a community and Brown prides itself on that. We have to pick out the strongest houses that serve the most people."
Gilman described Games House as being "very laid back and informal."
"I'm sad we can't continue to have such a wonderful environment," Koven said.
Koven said she was "not sure the model of fewer and broader houses will address" the diverse needs of students trying to find "living environments they are comfortable and happy with."
Several of the members plan to live together next year in an off-campus apartment, according to Gilman.
"We're going to miss it," Gilman said, adding that Games House members plan to continue some of their activities.
"We love this place," she said.
