News-Letter

"Kicked Off Campus" is persuasive and very well-written. Glenwick is insightful. As a parent, I was confused when I received a letter telling me that my daughter, a sophmore, would not be guarenteed housing next year because it was reserved for next year's seniors. Another thought I have is perhaps the school has an unwritten agreement with the owners of off-campus housing or a secret mission to send their students to live in the community to ensure that it thrives. No one wants run-down, empty apartment buildings surrounding the campus.

I understand where Michael is coming from, but I would urge him and others to look at living at off-campus housing as an opportunity, not a hardship. It certainly is more complicated than living within the nest, but it is also more liberating (not to mention less expensive, in some cases).

For my part, after leaving on-campus housing, I found my entire attitude toward Hopkins, and college in general, profoundly?and pleasantly?altered. Living on-campus places a great many small, but meaningful constraints on you. All of them serve to remind you that you still rely on someone else, someone older, wiser, more responsible?an authority?to provide your basic needs. It's an infantilizing state of affairs. After moving out, I felt much more free to explore the city, a practice that the University and student body discourage (the former through subtle hints and a complete failure to educate incoming students about Baltimore and provide transportation outside a 1 mile radius, the latter through incessant, ignorant whining born of fear). Furthermore, when you have your own place, you have much greater freedom and incentive to customize, to create a home as opposed to a transient, prefab dwelling space.

As for safety, a little common sense ensures that this is not an issue. 1) Lock your doors; 2) if you have a car, don't leave stuff in it; 3) respect obvious boundaries, a.k.a., if you've hit Greenmount, you've gone too far (well, actually, you haven't, but you might feel you have). You needn't worry just because off campus you see Baltimoreans who don't all resemble your fellow Hopkins students. Yeah, some of them are a little scruffy, but I guarantee they not only don't want to harm you, they don't even want to think about you. Plus, you're in Charles Village. This isn't exactly Middle East or Cherry Hill. The worst that will happen is that you'll get robbed. It sucks, but you'll recover. You might even learn how to take better care of yourself.

The author may feel put-upon right now, but I'm fairly certain he will come to see the virtues of self-determined living once he's had a taste. Got to get out of the crib sometime lad.

And one other thing. The University should not, in fact, be responsible for providing you housing. It has only one responsibility: to educate. Everything else is a marketing ploy. "Duke and Brown do it" is not a justification. It's petulance.

A student can always try to become an RA and stay on campus all four years. Also, I know upper classmen who live in Charles Commons.

I agree with the above posters. Moving off campus is a good step towards independence. In fact, you'll be even more ready for the real world than your peers who had an RA for four years and now are shell-shocked when they realize the world isn't all luxury suites with gyms and RA's to take care of you. The authenticity of the Hopkins experience is true to real life and students at Hopkins should embrace that opportunity.

Simon, I can understand how you feel about the independence you gain by moving off campus, and that may be fine for some students who CHOOSE to do that, but I think it is unfortunate for those who would prefer to remain on campus. As an aside, I might add, as a person whose college years are far far behind them, don't be in a rush to leave the unique experience of living within a campus community. You will have many years of living in apartments and being on your own, enjoy this time of transition into adulthood, don't rush.