Community Council to consider new house proposal

Author: Caroline S. Stauffer

Although it remains focused on the expansion and development of the commons system, Middlebury College continues to support Academic Interest Houses. Students have recently submitted proposals requesting the additions of Portuguese and Arabic Language Houses and after moving to a more accessible location, PALANA house continues to flourish.

Elizabeth Quinn and Patrick Swan, both first-years, submitted a proposal for a Portuguese House to the Academic House Review Committee on Feb. 21 with faculty support. The student authors maintain that there are four interested students for this year and possibly six for the following year. The Committee plans to review the proposal sometime this month.

The proposal confirms that if founded, members of the Portuguese house would uphold the integrity of a language pledge similar to that of the other language houses - to speak only in Portuguese. Since there is no Portuguese Department, the Department of Latin American Studies would review house applications. The faculty advisor of the project will be Visiting Instructor in Spanish and Latin American Studies Kirsten Ernst.

"The Portuguese Department is relatively new at Middlebury so initially we thought that by creating an academic house it would help it grow," Swan said. "We also thought that it could help students realize that learning how to speak a foreign language is not just about the classroom but it can also be natural and practical."

Sean Lena '06 was in charge of submitting a similar proposal to Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson requesting the formation of an Arabic House.

In addition to the seven language houses that are currently active on campus, two other special interest houses exist - PALANA (Pan African Latino Asian Native American) and Weybridge House, which is committed to environmentalism.

PALANA reopened this year in Carr Hall and more than a semester later, Dean for Institutional Diversity Roman Graf views the change as extremely beneficial for the house.

"In short, I think the move from the fringes of campus to its center has been extremely positive for PALANA," Graf said. He remarked that the convenient location encourages students to stop by and hang out.

The house has sponsored community outreach events such as the PALANA kids program and has hosted two deliberative dialogue forums and will host the reception for the Angels Awards and a reception for alumni of color in the near future.

Hanson reaffirmed the College's commitment to academic interest houses. "The academic houses give students opportunities to blend what they were learning in class with life outside of the classroom," she said.

The review process for social and academic interest houses is currently underway. The charge committee will share the results of its investigation with Community Council, which will in turn make recommendations to President Ronald D. Liebowitz.

- Reporting by Eri Nosaka