Council Approves Academic Interest House Recommendations

Author: Peter Simon

The Community Council Subcommittee on Social and Academic Interest Houses has made recommendations for the future of Middlebury College's nine academic interest houses. The subcommittee's suggestions came as the result of a new system of house evaluation implemented in January, 2001.

The recommendations include two location switches — the Russian House is expected to move from 248 to 70 Hillcrest, the German House from Turner House to 99 Adirondack. The council also recommended that PALANA House move, although no formal plans have been made to move the house.

The Italian House may also relocate, though the council did not state a preference on its location.

The Subcommitee on Social and Academic Interest Houses was formed in fall 2000, when Community Council disbanded the Residential Life Committee and created the new subcommittee to handle policy issues and conduct an annual review of all the houses.

The subcommittee began its review of the houses in January, 2001. At that time, several houses were placed on provisional status, which meant that each house was expected to fulfill the subcommittee's stipulations about gender equity, academic advising, language use and social activities, among other issues.

"Last year, we asked for a lot of changes to be made," said Director of the Center for Campus Activities and Leadership Douglas Adams, who also chaired the committee. "All the houses have done a very good job implementing those changes."

Adams said he was particularly pleased with the "stronger relationship between faculty and students" at the houses.

The review process included self-evaluation forms given to residential assistants (RAs) of the houses regarding the house's facilities, programming, academic advising, extracurricular activities and language usage where applicable. The subcommittee also conducted interviews with faculty advisors and residents of the houses.

"We were very pleased with the interest in the evaluation process shown by those involved with each house," said Adams.

The subcommittee presented its findings at a Community Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 25.

The Russian House will expand next year, moving from its current location at 248 College Street to 70 Hillcrest. The current facility, which houses only three students, makes having events at the house difficult. "We couldn't invite most of the people we wanted to invite to events at the house," said RA Laura Tarimo '03. "We will be able to do much more in the new facility." 70 Hillcrest will house about 6 students.

The German House, which typically houses about 6 students, requested a move from Turner House, on Route 125, to a more centrally located residence. They accepted the offer of 99 Adirondack for next year.

"We're very happy about the change," said German House RA Bernadette Gunn '04. "Our house was very out of the way this year. Some students had trouble finding it when we had events. The new house will be more accessible."

The subcommittee recommended that PALANA House move to a smaller location. Currently, PALANA is located in Fletcher House, which has an 18-student capacity. "Their programs have been excellent," said Adams. "However, they haven't filled rooms to capacity with people who wanted to be members of PALANA." Consequently, the school had to place two students in Fletcher who were not PALANA members.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Karen Guttentag also noted that the house was too far away from campus to be used to its full potential.

However, the house may not end up moving. "At this stage, there's no suggestion that PALANA is going to switch houses," said Leroy Nesbitt, senior adviser for institutional diversity and the house's faculty adviser. "We fully expect to fill the house to capacity with PALANA members this coming year." Nesbitt also noted that the house had been filled nearly to capacity with members in both of the last two years.

Besides recommendations regarding housing locations, no new stipulations were given for any of the houses. The recommendations passed unanimously in the Community Council.