Saving Middlebury's social life

Author: Tom Brant

The Student Social Life Task Force recommended several improvements to the current available on-campus social life options in a presentation to the Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees on Friday. Its most significant proposal calls for the replacement of McCullough Student Center with a building that would offer more social options for students.

Other proposals call for the reorganization of the planning structure for parties and other activities, establishing a new Student Activity and Recreation Office and augmenting the current intramural sports offerings.

The committee, formed by President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz in the spring of 2006, based its recommendations largely on the findings of a student survey this spring, which drew about 800 participants.

From the results of the survey, task force members Caryn LoCastro, Micah Gurard-Levin, Sara Margolis and Sam Temes, all seniors, developed five areas in which social offerings can be expanded.

The group proposed a new student center that would integrate a coffee shop, a diner-style restaurant and a student pub into one building, which would also include a "great hall" at its center as a place for students to meet and socialize.

"Students [currently] have no on-campus space specifically catered to them," the report stated. "McCullough does not have open spaces that are conducive to 'meeting up' or socializing."

The coffee shop would be less academically focused than the current Wilson CafÈ, located in the New Library. The pub, which would serve limited food items and alcohol at a full service bar, would be open only to students.

In addition to the food and drink options, the center would also have a performance space.

"It should also have a designated space for small performances, similar to the setup of the current Gamut Room," the report said.

The recommendations are based on the floor plan of the new Paresky Center at Williams College, which opened on Feb. 21 and has been drawing enthusiastic comments from students there.

Senior Leroy Lindsey told The Williams Record in February that the best feature of the new center is that it offers a wide range of options and therefore attracts a lot of students, many of whom stay all day.

"You can obviously see campus morale is up," he said. "Not having a center for so long affected social life on campus. I have seen more people here from my class and the classes above me than I ever have [elsewhere]."

The task force members predicted similar results if a new student center were constructed at the College, but acknowledged that the proposal was expensive and a long-term goal at best.

The number of parties registered on campus has decreased 1100% over the past decade, according to the report. While 332 registered parties were held in the 1998-1999 school year, there have been only 30 so far this year.

The decline in registered parties has led to an exodus of parties off campus that has worsened in recent years, including a party two weeks ago that was shut down by the Vermont liquor inspector before it was begun.

To revitalize and increase the number of on-campus parties, the group recommended the creation of a special interest housing system that would be separate from the current room draw process and social houses.

Under the proposal, student organizations would be given an opportunity to apply for housing where large parties could be registered, such as the Ridgeline and Adirondack Street houses. According to the proposal, all groups hoping to participate will have to agree to register a set number of parties.

"They will also have to include information such as potential theme ideas and other reasons why they will be able to throw attractive parties," the report explained. "In return for agreeing to assume the burden of planning, registering and policing parties, they will receive a budget and the benefit of living in more desirable housing."

Some students said that the proposal would foster better-attended parties.

"I think that if we had to choose between replacing McCullough and encouraging more registered parties through the special interest houses, I would support the houses," said Alice Ford '10.

But other students were skeptical about the impact the houses could have on the social scene because of existing regulations.

"One of the problems is that there's a lot of regulations currently in place that limit the ability of social houses to throw good parties," said Brittany McAdams '09. "If the recommendation is that there be more registered parties like the ones at social houses, I think that's a great idea, but the administration needs to give the hosts some leeway in what they can do. Otherwise the parties still won't be that attended."

The students explained that one problem with the current social events planning is lack of cooperation.

"There is often overlap between social events hosted by various organizations, [and] there is currently no 'umbrella' under which social planning committees come together," they wrote in the report. "As a result, there are often nights with a plethora of social activities and other evenings during which there are few or none."

To make the planning process more effective, the task force proposed the creation of a new Student Activities and Recreation office (SAR), which would be helmed by two new managers of recreational sports and social programming.

The goal, explained Temes, is to integrate recreational sports into the social atmosphere of the college and provide more opportunities for recreation on the weekends.

"Having a student recreation office that will cater to both sports and other social activities is probably the most important recommendation that we made," said Temes.

Though the Trustees did not vote on the recommendations, Margolis was confident that they and Liebowitz approve of the proposals.

"We need the administration's support on this, and we're pretty confident that they will give it," she said. "We also need the Trustees' support for fundraising, and that will probably come a little later."

Before the task force secures support or funding, however, the five seniors need to find students to take up the cause next year.

"The next step is to hand this off to either the SGA or a group of juniors that are chosen by us and the administration," Margolis said.

According to LoCastro, the proposed changes will bring a much-needed boost to what she says is a lacking social scene.

"The social scene at Middlebury has gotten progressively less exciting since my freshman year and it definitely needs to be revamped," she wrote in an e-mail. "I want the younger students to have the chance to enjoy the kind of social scene we had when we entered college four years ago, and I have no doubt that each solution we proposed would improve the quality of Middlebury students' social experiences."