Community Feedback Meeting

Thursday, May 6, 1999; 9:00 PM

Ashdown House

 RSSC members present: Bill Hecht, Anne McCants, Jennifer Berk

• Consciously brought unfinished document
• Some things will change, some things won’t
• This is not a first-class housing system
• There is a group of people in Ashdown working not just on feedback, but on forward-looking action as well.
• Presenters looked to preserve values and build on them

- Started by looking at values such as:

“community in residence”

“vibrant, diverse community”

“maintain choice”

• Must address grad & undergrad issues

- Grad: First-year, choice, n^th year guidance

- Undergrad: Freshmen, choice, upper-class guidance

- maintain heterogeneity of choice

- MacGregor - has singles

- Ashdown - share rooms, have community

• Parallel needs => parallel solutions
• Grad: In Ashdown, 40% 1st-year, orientation, various programs, community of scholars, hub of grad activity
• Distribute frosh among current undergrads & new dorm

- proportions determined by architecture, location, culture

• Support freshman clustering with RA’s
• Support freshman programming but distribute throughout campus

- each dorm gets a different bit

- also serves as intro to dorm culture

- clusters attend

- could be extended to grad dorms and FSILG’s

- prepares freshman for sophomore shuffle

• Ashdown hosting

- intro to UROP and research (since factor of 5)

- advise upperclassmen considering grad school

- act as department liaisons

- interact with TA’s on an informal basis

• Freshman hall unnecessary
• Freshman common space in neutral location

- Newbury Comics space

• Have upheld RSSC values
• Freshman presence vitalizes & links community

- encourages interactions between all communities within MIT

• Like decentralization, crossing east-west divide
• Model for coherent feedback

- more feedback => better solution

- response to unique community

• Singles vs. doubles for grad students:

- presenter was in single for undergrad, so wanted a single (Tang preferred to Ashdown) but hasn’t had any problems in double

- sacrificing single first year for great community involvment

=> seniority points => in single but still part of the community

- living in a double lets you connect with another person in a unique way

- having the option of staying with a roommate you enjoy living with is good.

• There are things that are more important than singles. The number of returning Ashdown residents shows that they value community.

• Desire to have a single - forced to get involved

- but do we want to present that kind of social engineering?

• Key word is CHOICE

- how much time do you want to spend in the dorm?

• Wish for singles not confined to grad students

- everyone comes wanting to be in MacGregor, but people come and see the communities, and the other dorms fill

- someone stated that “MacGregor is an anti-social dorm”

- someone else replied “that not all of MacGregor is anti-social”

- is like living in a house with your own room plus public space

- a chance to interact with very different people at your own pace

- getting the dining hall back would really help

- the structure of MacGregor does not make it anti-social

• There is a perception that undergrads don’t want singles - wrong!

- Grad students “married to lab” and don’t come home much

- Undergrads want privacy at home since they have programs for interaction all over campus

• People in Tang, Eastgate not envied - public spaces or not, need incentives to be involved.
• Housing freshmen with upperclassmen is great

- would have freshmen banding together out of desperation

• People who leave Ashdown to get singles are unhappy later
• Add grad student?

- need to talk about it

- GSC did not nominate

- as soon as you add a person, it’s a different group

• Student who stayed in Tang while visiting believes residence system is the best chance to meet people (not by class)

• Trying to get grad-students involved
• Goal of getting more singles is good
• Best answer is getting new grad dorm with both singles and community space
•  One student said the thing she wants most at MIT is the grad dorm because it is a big constraint
•  Ashdown value isn’t being in doubles, it’s having community space
• Others astonished that there are cross-disciplinary discussions
•  This is a bad time for getting student input - theses due tomorrow
• Looking at moving back the date

 How connected are grad students to undergrad education?

- want to be involved in freshmen programming?

- A lot of grad students are TA’s

- might be interested in residential programming too

- there is a disconnect - they are the “other people”

- but memories remain, can connect

• Former MIT undergrad would like connection - there are enough people interested in talking to undergrads
• Member of the Dining Implementation Team says the problem was getting resources to improve spaces and support a transition
• Most important thing is getting support, whatever system is adopted (applause)
•  Whatever gets adopted, it depends on another undergrad dorm and a new grad dorm

- build undergrad dorm on Kresge parking lot

- parking issues ?

• Grad housing/community problem is also important and should not be dropped.

• Triad?

- if going to have triad, need grad students to be part of it

- don’t create a Diaspora by killing potential nucleus

- try the programming before destroying what we already have

• Some recommendations will be implementable without too much more support
• Start programming (for example) in fall, and onwards
• Feedback important - getting a better sense of grad community now
• Grad dorm got sidelined with Scott Kreuger - any chance of returning to previous priorities?

- don’t know

- campaign priority list could easily have $300-$400 million more in it

- want to integrate communities (i.e. UROP works well)

• Now is the time to push for the grad dorm
• Looks like athletic center slipping also
• Alumni should write in and say they’ll donate to student life

- Have usually raised money from grad alumni by department

- Living groups could get into the act

- one alumnus present says has now been taught that this group cares about grad community and may give to it

• Someone involved in EC/SH flop points out that it worked better with open Senior House renovations process (works better with open communities)
• Raising money depends on people having cared about the community while here
• Is this outlandish? What chances do these ideas have of getting included?

- would have had a serious chance of winning in January

- have informed and enlightened us with good feedback

• Committee seems most concerned about dealing with freshmen on campus, but grad students have part to play

- Make sure grad students have community space

•  Green has no community space - very aware of need for space

• If tried to run academics/research on a shoestring budget, professors would laugh administration out
• 15% of Ashdown housebill goes into fund for building more graduate residences

• Presenters will get us presentation & usernames

- they want feedback on their proposal which they can then respond to

- will at least get something in the summer - can’t promise immediately

- wish they had talked more about grad student life in their proposal