New residence halls have always been part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, but University officials trying to keep students from moving off campus have recently ramped up this effort.
Russell Carey '91 MA'06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, is leading a team that is evaluating the costs and benefits of building new dorms on campus.
"The need for improving current housing has been something people have been working on for quite some time," said Carey, who added that new dorms have "increased in priority" as of late.
Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president, is working on the team. He agreed that "a number of people, including the president ... would like to see (new dorms) sooner rather than later."
Administrators are actively discussing whether plans for new dorms are financially feasible. They will also examine whether proposed projects can meet the demands of students and receive approval from city officials, Spies said. Other issues to address include how many dorms to build, where to place them and how much they might cost, he added.
The main reason for the new discussions is a desire among University officials to increase the number of students living on campus. About 80 percent of students currently choose to live on campus, according to Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential life. This number places Brown "in the middle of the Ivies" regarding its on campus-off campus ratio, Bova said.
Spies said administrators hope new dorms will "get back to what we thought of as a good arrangement ... where essentially all juniors live on campus" along with "a larger fraction of seniors."
"We view being a residential college as extremely important," Carey said.
Carey said new dorms might be occupied primarily by upperclassmen, assuming they can be wooed back to on-campus housing.
As administrators evaluate various proposals, one of the challenges is to design "specific types of housing to meet the needs of students who now feel that they need to go off campus," Spies said.
Carey said he hopes the planning process will involve student input. Students might be asked to consider whether they would like more suites in new dorms, he said.
"Our current housing (has mostly) traditional singles and doubles (with) very few suites," Carey said. "That's something that we would look at with students."
Administrators will "hopefully" develop some proposals they can run past students "over the course of this academic year and hopefully over the course of the fall semester," Spies said.
No housing crunch this semester
The need for new housing does not seem as acute this semester since the number of students living on campus is down from last year. The housing crunch that forced the Office of Residential Life to convert lounges and other spaces into dorm rooms in first-year residence halls last year is not a concern this semester, according to Bova.
Most of the lounge space has been returned to its intended purpose, with only a few converted spaces being made permanent in Keeney Quadrangle and New Pembroke, Bova said.
"There is no housing shortage at Brown this semester," Bova said.
The decrease in the size of the senior class and the lower number of transfer students has worked to alleviate the shortage. The class of 2006 had 1,594 last fall semester, while the class of 2007 has 1,512 this semester. The number of transfer students entering Brown this semester dropped to 22 from 145 last year.
The number of students opting to live off campus this year is 1,174, down 60 from last year.
According to Spies, the let-up in the housing crunch has not influenced discussions about building new dorms. "We know that those things fluctuate," Spies said.
Will students respond to on-campus housing?
Whether administrators will be able to woo students to live on campus instead of off remains to be seen.
Former Herald Opinions Editor Patrick Harrison '08, said he would "absolutely" live off campus his senior year, "not so much (because of) dissatisfaction (with the housing system)" but because of the independence it provides. Harrison said he is interested in "getting toes wet with the responsibility of having your own apartment." He added that living off campus is "probably cheaper" than living on campus.
The lower cost of living off campus may inspire other students to consider the option. "I hear its cheaper," said Elizabeth Morgan '10, who said she might consider living off campus her senior year, though she doesn't have a "big desire" to do so.
Other students, some of whom have chosen not to live off campus as seniors, cite the ease of living on campus as a factor in this decision. Kevin McDonald '08 said he would not consider living off campus next year because it is "too far (from campus) and I don't want to deal with a landlord."
Marshall Agnew '07, who decided not to live off campus this year, said he chose to live in Young Orchard because it is "easier." Living off campus has a number of hidden expenses, including paying for utilities, furniture, insurance and "a whole bunch of other stuff," he said.
Agnew added that he was able to get a good suite this year.
Offering quality living arrangements may well be the key to wooing off-campus dwellers back on, Spies said. "We think that students would respond if we had ... enough of the right kind of housing."
