When the Charles Village Project is completed some time in the fall of 2005, it will have a significant impact on the way students feel at Johns Hopkins.
In a positive way.
Students have been clamoring for years for upperclassmen housing and the Charles Village Project will seek to fulfill those requests. Once the facility is complete, it will be able to house about 500 or more upperclassmen. The end result will be to keep students in closer social contact and make them feel more connected to the University.
In other words, it will help build community.
When students live together, they tend to form stronger friendships. Think back to freshman year in the AMRs when everyone talked to each other in the hallways and people weren't afraid to strike up random conversations with new people. Living in close proximity is a good step toward improving the bonds among students.
Of course, upperclassmen housing should not be forced on anyone, and should be completely optional. Students who wish to move to nearby apartments or row-houses should maintain that freedom of choice. Such a policy will also allow students to shop for competitive prices, since the rent for the new apartments may be higher than that of some other local housing options.
But I believe more upperclassmen will want to live in the dorms than won't. For one, it is a huge hassle and time strain to spend the second half of sophomore year running around Charles Village looking for absentee landlords and putting your name on mile-long waiting lists.
Above all, these dorms provide excellent proximity to campus. When you live on a row-house on 30th and Calvert it takes much more of an effort to come back in the evening for student activities and events.
But when you live right across Charles Street, it's only a hop, skip and jump away to a evening lecture, sporting event or club meeting.
As to the future of undergraduate housing after the Charles Village project is complete, nothing is set in stone. However the University has pledged itself in the CUE report to provide undergraduate housing for all students within the next 10 years.
They have a lot of choices about where they might want to place these future dormitories. But I think the best location for any future housing construction would be on the campus itself.
No more room you say? Too crowded as it is? Well that may be true. But according to the Master Plan, the Garland Quadrangle (which is currently a parking lot) is slated to eventually be turned back into a green field with several new structures to be built around it.
I think that the Garland Quadrangle, currently framed by Clark Hall and Shriver Hall, would be a perfect spot for future dormitory construction. Dormitories on college greens that provide wide open spaces are perfect for playing sports, sun-bathing or studying.
They increase outside socialization too. Think of all the late-night gatherings by the benches in front of AMR II. There is no real social gathering place outside Wolman and McCoy. It's just plain more appealing to have grass outside your window instead of Charles Street.
Situating dorms on that side of campus will also provide closer late-night access to Levering Hall, which is in the works to become a real student union. Part of the reason that facility is currently so under-utilized is because of its distance from any actual student living spaces.
If students lived right on the Garland Quad, Levering would have the chance to become a viable student hang-out and meeting place for all times of day and night.
Putting dorms back on the west-side of Charles Street -- and on Homewood proper -- will increase attendance at all campus events and generally give the campus a more energetic vibe. As it is currently, the campus often seems completely deserted from Thursday until Sunday and most evenings, not counting the library.
While there must also be room for new academic buildings, they don't deserve all the green space for themselves. While professors may spend a portion of their days on campus, at night they leave to go to their own homes. Students spend a majority of their time on the campus and should therefore be given the best spaces for living and studying.
The Charles Village Project is a very strong positive step forward in the University's commitment to the undergraduate students. However, it would be very wise step on the administration's part to direct future dormitory development onto the green side of the Homewood campus.
Ishai Mooreville is a junior international studies major from Merion, Penn. He is also the opinions editor for the Johns Hopkins News-Letter.
