Though Wriston Quadrangle was built with the idea of a residential community in mind, overcrowding in recent years has heightened tension between Greek living and independents.
The construction of Wriston Quad around 1950 was the University's first major step toward creating a residential campus. Administrators had been talking as early as President Francis Wayland's P'46 term in the mid-19th Century about transitioning into a residential style of education. But it was not until President Henry Wriston that the University began seriously considering developing a true housing system on campus, according to a May 10, 1952, extended piece in The Herald about the history of Brown's housing written by Thomas Appleget '17, then the vice president of the University.
Wriston proposed his initial plans to the Corporation in 1943, basing his ideas and goals on Wayland's desire for a residential campus expressed nearly 100 years prior, Appleget wrote. Wriston hoped to construct a large housing area that would be home to the University's fraternities as well as independents — students that are not affiliated with Greek organizations — that needed housing. In September of 1951, Wriston Quad was completed, and fraternity members began living on campus. At that point, the University was affiliated with 17 fraternities, with members making up almost half the student body.
Wriston pushed for this construction, Appleget wrote, because of what he felt was a need for a greater sense of community at the University.
"Intimate friendship and college spirit and good breeding all demand that men should sit at table together, in unhurried intercourse," Wriston wrote in an accompanying piece in that same issue.
He also wished for a university where fraternity brothers would have places not only to live on campus, but also to grow as intellectuals and to interact with their non-Greek schoolmates. In exchange for on-campus housing, the University assumed the deeds to their off-campus houses.
"Freed from the burden of debt and occupying attractive quarters, they again may become an educational force, as well as an effective bond between successive generations of alumni," Wriston wrote.
‘No sense of community'
Despite the fact that there are no Greek common areas converted this semester — though Buxton International House's library was converted into dorm space last semester — independents' common areas have not been as readily available for use.
The independent lounge and kitchen in Goddard House has housed students all year, according to Michelle Ngo '12, a community assistant in the building. Independents in Diman House have also had their common areas converted, Angell Shi '13, a community assistant, wrote in an email to The Herald. Diman's basement lounge and library are currently living spaces for students, while the main independent lounge was set to be converted but then reverted back to a lounge, Shi wrote.
"I think it's very unfortunate for the residents because some people are off meal plan and need at least a kitchen," Ngo wrote in an email to The Herald about the situation in Goddard. "I've had some people email me about their dissatisfaction, but there's nothing I can do about it, and neither can they."
According to Emma Patterson Ware '13, both her roommate Laken Hottle '13 and she are on meal plans "because there's no way to be off."
"There's no other space for you to go in that building," Patterson Ware said.
"It makes you feel really undervalued," Hottle said. "There's no sense of community."
Molly Chambers '11.5 said the two students who were placed in Buxton's library last semester felt uncomfortable — they were the only ones in the building who were not a part of the program house.
"It's not the ideal community to have two people living who are not involved at all," she said.
‘It's just not fair'
For fraternity and sorority members, the independents' lack of common areas may be a problem, though not one they were all aware of. James Ardell '13, a member of the Delta Phi fraternity, thought all lounge areas in Goddard were reserved for members of DPhi and Alpha Delta Phi, the fraternity and literary society that share the building with independents.
"I guess it sucks to be an independent and not get your own lounge, but I think most people understand that when they're living in the frat," Ardell wrote in an email to The Herald.
Hottle noted the stark contrast between the situation of independents and that of Greek residents.
"It's just not fair, and it's not comfortable to live in a place like this," she said. "If I just had access to a kitchen and a common room, that would make everything so much better."
Andrew Alvarez '11, president of the Greek Council, wrote in an email to The Herald that in situations where independents do not have social spaces available to them, they have other options to turn to. "(The Office of Residential Life), upon request, will give independents card access to all houses on Wriston for the use of available social spaces, a privilege the Greeks are not entitled to," he wrote.
Hottle said ResLife gave her access to Harkness House, but she is hesitant to start cooking. "It's awkward and weird to be using their kitchen," she said.
Though the Greek system may seem to have a set of privileges, there are also responsibilities Greeks must adhere to, Alvarez wrote.
"Any fraternity or sorority is subject to losing their social spaces when membership declines in order to use those social spaces for more independents," he wrote. "Greek houses are still under the guidelines of (Residential Council) and ResLife. Not too many non-Greeks are aware of that part because they don't have to interact with Res Council."
Until overcrowding on campus is eased, independents will continue to deal with what Ngo feels is an unfortunate lack of common areas.
"We're all helpless in this overcrowding situation," Ngo wrote.
— With additional reporting by Greg Jordan-Detamore
