Burton-Conner has been around for nearly 60 years and has been home to over 6000 alumni.  With this many residents from different backgrounds and cultures living here for 4 years each, one would expect that Burton-Conner has drastically changed and that residents from 1950 wouldn’t be able to recognize the dorm anymore. 

This is not the case.  Despite the many changes that Burton-Conner has undergone over the years, there have been very few significant changes.  I believe that anyone who lived in Burton-Conner can come back to visit and still feel a sense of connection with its current residents and the dormitory itself despite a handful of changes. 

Alumni prior to 1980 would note the new façade on Amherst Alley with a set of barbeque pits. 

Alumni prior to 1970 would note that the main entrance has moved to 410 Memorial Drive and that the main entrance is now on Amherst Alley as opposed to Memorial Drive.  They would also be shocked to find the new suite style living, which replaced the previous hallway style.  Most importantly they would note the addition of females. 

Alumni prior to 1960 would note the addition of the dining room on the back of the building.  As well as everything else listed above.  Once again despite all these changes, the personality of Burton-Conner remains much the same as it always was. 

a.Burton-Conner becomes Coed

In 1873, Ellen Swallow Richards received her S.B. at MIT; she was the first female to be admitted to MIT and later helped setup and run the Women’s Lab at MIT.  In 1963 the first tower of McCormick Hall, MIT’s all-female residence hall, was completed and MIT began to admit more women.  In 1970, nearly 100 years after Ellen Swallow Richards graduated the previously all-male dormitories at MIT became coed.  The dormitories became coed nearly simultaneously, although due to the renovations Burton-Conner’s most pronounced change didn’t occur until 1971, a year after the rest of campus.

In the fall of 1971, Conner 4 was set-aside to house only women, thus preserving the single-sex natures of the floors.  If this setup worked, MIT planned to have women begin to live on coed floors with the male residents of the dorm.  In true Burton-Conner style, the women were treated to a fire alarm soon after moving in and Burton-Conner had its first pajama party since the renovation as tired men and women stumbled out of their bedrooms at 3:00 in the morning. 

The renovated Burton-Conner was initially intended to be what it was before, an all male dormitory.  One part of the renovations was the previously mentioned bathrooms that were added to all the suites.  Urinals were added to about half of the bathrooms.  By the time the renovations were complete, women were moving in and had no need of the urinals in the 413, 423, and 424 suites.  Bonny Kellerman had originally lived in McCormick and as a senior she moved onto Conner 4, she related the details of the following events.

  In order to shield the women of Conner 4 from the “harmful effects” of seeing a urinal in their all-female suite, the Institute decided that there was no choice but to cover up the offensive urinals with large boxes.  Contrary to the Institute’s belief, women didn’t find the urinals particularly offensive and instead were more bothered by the large oversized boxes in their bathrooms.  They removed them and added them to their lounges as coffee tables.  When custodians discovered that the bathrooms were missing their urinal covers and that the suites had new coffee tables, the covers were quickly replaced.  It went back and forth a few times.  With the students removing the covers and the Institute replacing them.  Finally, the women of Conner 4 decided to undeniably prove that they were okay with seeing urinals and turned the urinals into vases by adding flowers to them.  After this the Institute decided to just leave things as they were. 

The year following the harmless addition of women to Conner 4, MIT began to add women to the other floors in Burton-Conner, first in single-sex suites.  Gradually suites became coed.  In 1975 Burton 1, the last all-male floor, became coed.  Having lived in both an all-male Burton 1 and then a coed Burton 1, Phil Kesten felt he was qualified to compare the two experiences.  In his words, “It made a difference!  The floor was much saner, and smelled better.”

This can be contrasted to the Burton-Conner that was not merely a single-sex dorm, but a dorm with very strict parietal laws.  Although the laws seemed strict to the students, they proved to be very liberal parietal laws when compared to the other colleges and universities around the Boston area at the time.  For this the students had Dean of Residence Fredrick ‘Freddy’ Fassett to thank.  Freddy Fassett was constantly defending the right of MIT males to have the coeds from their neighboring schools over past 11:00 pm in addition to being a strong supporter of improving student living areas. 

b.Suites

Starting in 1971, everything in Burton-Conner began to revolve around the suite.  Karen Nilsson, the House Manager of Burton-Conner from 1985-1988, and later the Associate Dean for Residential Life, felt that the suite system was a nearly perfect connection between life with a family before and living independently after MIT.  In effect, the suite becomes the family the students left behind, while providing them enough autonomy that it prepares them for when they are on their own or in an apartment with roommates.  After living at Burton-Conner and then later with roommates I completely agree with her assessment. 

Similar to an apartment, each suite is provided with its own kitchen, lounge, and bathroom.  The suite experience can be one of the most rewarding and educational aspects of life at Burton-Conner.  The suite is the perfect environment to learn cooking techniques and not worry about upsetting a landlord.  Students often get together, teach each other cooking methods, share recipes and periodically prepare dinner for the entire suite.  Other times, things do not go well in the kitchens and they become home to large messes, small oven fires, or just smoldering cookies that set off the fire alarms and send everyone outside.

I had a great time living in a suite at Burton-Conner and was able to try many different types of ethnic foods.  Many residents take to customizing their kitchens to fulfill their wants and needs, either by adding more tables and seats, installing an entertainment system, or painting the walls.  Wall paintings range from simple single color paintings in students rooms to very complex murals on the walls of the hallways.  They are a great way for artistic students to find an outlet from the usual grind of MIT’s culture. 

Many students find outlets in cooking and art; every couple years someone takes up brewing as a way to relax.  Eric Correll, class of 2010, did just that and spent his Junior and Senior years brewing a myriad of different beers.  He even modified a refrigerator to have four taps on the outside so that his friends could enjoy his cold homemade brews on tap. 

c.Floors

The suites come together as a floor and together form a social circle with a personality and culture independent of Burton-Conner.  The floors, in turn, come together to form Burton-Conner.  In a way Burton-Conner forms a nation of students, each floor represents a state and each suite a city within that state.  Burton-Conner residents take pride in their suite, floor, and dormitory similar to the way in which people take pride in their city, state, and nation. 

To capitalize on floor pride, many floors have created symbols for their floor and they are posted around the dorm.  Many floors install a memento of their floor in the elevator button that heads to their floor.