Should the UI Build A New Dorm? The headline in the DI was predictable and the point/counterpoint that followed was also sadly predictable- though I really didn't know what else I expected. This is the DI we're talking about here. (And while I'm here, what's with these Regents? I never remember them being this crazy-talking. First one wants to sell the Pollack and now one wants a new dorm and a tuition increase. Yummy!) But the debate about new dorms has been flaring up now and again for years now- usually on slow news days or, in this case, when Regent Robert Downer declared that the UI should build a new dorm, apropos of pretty much nothing.
I live in the dorms. Well, not literally- but every night when the students are tucked away safely in bed (or if it's a weekend, if they're puking in the halls, shitting and pissing in the halls and/or passing out in the halls) I'm checking every floor and rattling every door and looking in all the dark corners for things amiss- and I do so in every single dorm on campus. And I can say with certainty that Regent Downer's concerns are admirable- but ultimately misplaced.
What do I mean by that? Well- for a start, there are good dorms and there are bad dorms. There are dorms that are well designed and easy to check (Slater, Rienow) and then there are dorms that are horrifically bad design mazes, rabbit warrens of hell that I hate to check (Burge, I'm lookin' at you...) there are dorms out in the middle of nowhere (Mayflower that's you-) and dorms that are no longer dorms but, for reasons passing understanding used to be dorms- (Parklawn, which looks like the 1970s threw up all over it on the inside. Trust me on this.) We've got a good complement of dorms going- and they're pretty full.
Sure I can hear you say- we should build a new dorm and get students out of temp housing- they need the room. Well, maybe is what I say to that. There are always students in temp housing- there were when I was a freshman at Hillcrest and I think there always will be. What's a credit to the University Housing Services is that they get students in temp housing placed very, very quickly. One just has to go through Slater and Rienow to see that the numbers of students crammed into lounges has dropped dramatically.
We should build a new dorm because a new dorm would be shiny and new and a good recruiting tool. Um, what? (This contention came from Michael Dale-Stein in the DI yesterday) A new dorm would look good, but if students base their decision to come to Iowa on the quality of the dorm, then they're dumb and they shouldn't be coming here. College should be based on the quality of academics not whether or not you've got a swish new flashy dorm to go home to at the end of the day.
It'll break the apartment monopoly in Iowa City. No, it won't. If people honestly believe that a new dorm is going to break down the entrenched landlords in this City, they're on some seriously good drugs. And I want some. Landlords will always be powerful in this city, because once you're past your freshmen year, you usually don't want to stay in the dorms. I know I didn't-- and therein lies the real problem. If we're going to build a shiny new dorm, then you have to figure out a way to keep some sophomores and juniors in the dorms. The biggest customers of the residence halls are freshmen and after that, there's usually an exodus out to off-campus housing-- hence, the so-called apartment monopoly. Upper classmen just want to be out on their own.
Lest we forget, there's also the economic arguments to think of. Although University Housing is self-sustaining, these aren't exactly times of plenty for anyone. Should we be embarking on mad quests for new dorms that could cost up to $60 million? Even if the project would be self-sustaining over the course of the long term? At the present time, that doesn't strike me as the most responsible course of action.
So what should we do? Well, kids- I'm glad you asked, because I have a small proposal of my own to float. A new dorm would be overkill- but expanding and renovating an existing dorm might be in order. I don't know why, when everyone talks about new dorms, they always hate on Quadrangle, but they do-- personally, I find Quad to be a treat. It's older, sure- and it does need a makeover, but it's linear, it's a breeze to check and it's got a classy, historic feel that is lacking in a lot of other dorms. Plus- and here's the kicker- it's not actually a quandrangle anymore.
So why not restore the Quadrangle? Make Quad quandrangular again! The northeast chunk, where the Volleyball Courts are now was razed in the mid-70s because the University couldn't afford the upkeep and it was 'an insurance drain.' If there's a demand for more housing, expansion and renovation would seem to be a more fiscally responsible course of action than building a whole new building.
People may not know it, but Quad is actually one of the oldest dorms on campus- only parts of Currier are older and it's been a model for residence life since it was built in the 1920s. It was largely self-governing by the 20s and 30s and the residences had some of the highest GPAs on campus at the time. In other words- there's a lot of history there and if there's one thing we can fault ourselves for in this country, it's the lamentable tendency to look at an old, classy lookin' building and saying to ourselves 'It's old, let's rip it down and build a strip mall.'
Renovating and restoring Quad to it's former glory would solve everyone's problems. Increased capacity for the dorms- modernization for a dorm that sorely needs it. (And if the University can makeover the Old Music Building from it's former shitheap status into something the Psychology Department actually wants to move into, they can work their magic on Quad)-- and we'd be preserving one of the oldest buildings on campus. Even the medical campus, which seems to grow like some giant sea monster, exponentially with every passing year (Kinnick in 2050 will be surrounded by the UIHC. I'm totally calling it) managed to resist the urge to rip down the original hospital tower- and the Gothic Tower hidden away amongst the modern skyline of the West Campus is a little bit of randomness that reminds us all of how far we've come and just where we've been.
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