Social houses get green light After annual consideration, Council approves operations

Author: Amy McCowan

Completing its annual review evaluating each house's fulfillment of house missions, the Community Council Subcommittee on Social Houses recommended that all five of Middlebury's social houses continue operation in the 2006-2007 academic year.

The Subcommittee, consisting of Chair and Project Manager Tom McGinn, Elizabeth Schaumberg '06 and Antoinette Rangel '09, met with Delta (formerly ADP), Kappa Delta Rho (KDR), The Mill, Omega Alpha (Tavern) and Xenia in the fall and spring to review rush plans, reinforce the dry pledge and hazing ban policies and discuss each house's self-evaluation of its performance throughout the year. The houses are evaluated on their ability to meet College regulations pertaining to membership requirements, gender division, community involvement and damage charges, among other factors.

"I feel that our recommendations are very reflective of the conversations that we had with the social house members, and is not anything outrageous because all of the houses do a very good job of executing their goals as a house," said Rangel.

The Subcommittee's written report must be approved by Community Council before it is passed on to President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz for final approval.

"We like to think of ourselves not as an oversight group, but as an observer for Community Council, to look at the system as a whole, what are the issues they're facing as a whole, how to let it serve the College social community better," said McGinn.

Delta, formerly known as Alpha Delta Phi before its recent separation from the national chapter, was encouraged to develop a mission statement reflecting its new independence, congratulated on its increased community service involvement and told to continue to decrease dorm damage.

"This year, the social houses were all very successful in greatly reducing the amount of dorm damage within the houses - a stipulation of many from last year. We also addressed the guest list policy and its possible effects on the houses, their membership and participation levels," said Shaumberg.

The report congratulated KDR for overcoming the 2003 probationary period, largely through its strong community service involvement. KDR's greatest challenge, however, is filling house beds, as the older house must compete with improved housing options elsewhere on campus.

The Mill was criticized for its lack of house participation in the College community, a shortcoming the house recognizes and is working to remedy. The house requested a new kitchen and installation of the enhanced access system.

"The request to move our kitchen from the basement was made about four years ago, and has been approved for quite some time," said Mill President Dan Burke '06. "For whatever financial reasons, the College never finalized the plan to move the kitchen until this year, and I have been told that it will be installed over the summer months."

Xenia was also encouraged to participate in collective community service projects and to raise awareness for the house and its mission in the College and local community.

While the report surprised Xenia President Matthew Johnstone '07 - the Subcommittee discussion largely addressed issues surrounding the physical house and its use - he said the recommendations are fair and will be implemented in next year's plans. "We are thinking about next year and ways that we can meet both of those goals, perhaps by improving house participation in one particular charity or service project, perhaps by having at least one large, high-profile, public event on campus. It's on the radar for this coming fall," said Johnstone.

As a large house with 66 members, Tavern was commended for its strong membership involvement in community and College activities. Tavern is the only house with a community service requirement for all of its members.

Inter-House Commons Advisor Doug Adams, who assisted the Subcommittee, said, "I believe that the report fairly represents the current state of the social houses and the challenges that lay ahead of them for the future. I think the majority of the houses worked hard to address the stipulations applied by last year's Community Council."