Carleton College

Anyone who has ever visited Carleton at 10:30 at night knows that the place is just starting to come alive at that time. Most of the faculty and staff have gone home, but every corner of campus is crowded with life—students rehearsing for an Ebony II show, grabbing a cup of coffee at the Snack Bar, throwing pots in Boliou, performing in the Cave, watching TV or talking politics in a dorm, seeking help with homework at the Math Skills Center. Students live here and, for four years, Carleton is their community.

By its very nature as a small, residential liberal arts college, Carleton is a community of students, faculty members, staff members, and—by extension—alumni who share a common purpose: the intellectual pursuit of knowledge in a healthy, safe learning and living environment.

But students spend only a small percentage of their time in class. Many more hours are spent studying, eating, hanging out with friends, participating in a vast array of cocurricular and extracurricular activities: the residential life of the College.

Residential living is a distinctive characteristic of a liberal arts school like Carleton and plays an important role in teaching students the value of the arts of democracy, says Hudlin Wagner, dean of students. “There is a sense of civic engagement in the halls, and a hall becomes a neighborhood where students learn to live with others, to compromise, and to respect each other,” she says. “They become stewards of their living environment and discover that what they do matters. They also build friendships and connections that go beyond the four years they spend at Carleton.”

While much of this happens spontaneously—simply by gathering 2,000 students of relatively equal age in the same place—building community also takes work. “We strive to create a thriving environment where students can work on their leadership skills, their interpersonal skills, and their communication skills,” says Steve Wisener, director of residential life. “We want to create spaces where people can interact with others, where they can study and develop socially and be aware of their impact on others. Some of that happens naturally. But a lot of what we do is intentional.”

Building blocks

Nowhere is the vibrancy of Carleton’s student body more evident than in the 9 residence halls, 10 town houses, and 29 houses that make up the College’s student living spaces. And the cornerstones of residential life are the student resident assistants, or RAs, who are “hired, trained, and focused as community builders,” Wisener says.

RAs foster interaction both between individual roommates and among floor residents or other groups they are responsible for, playing a particularly vital role as advisers for first-year students, who often look to older students for guidance. RAs work closely with Carleton’s residential life staff, but they’re not authoritarians hired to police the halls. While they do enforce quiet hours and rules about smoking and underage drinking, they, and the students they support, take a much higher view of their role.

“Some of my friends at other schools say things like, ‘I hate my RA’ or ‘My RA is terrible,’ ” says Drew Chambers ’10 (Atlanta), who is in his first year as an RA in Goodhue Hall. “At Carleton we aren’t asked to be disciplinarians. Our primary role is to be a resource for residents and to promote community through planning activities, mediating conflicts, and making sure everyone feels comfortable where they’re living.”

Planning floor-bonding activities can be tricky given that Carleton intermixes first-year, sophomore, junior, and senior students in most of its residence halls rather than dedicating certain halls for specific class years.

“Freshmen tend to bond with the floor and benefit most from an integrated community,” Chambers says. “The floor is their first orientation to life at Carleton and the place where they can easily make friends.” Older students who have already established friendship groups tend not to need as many organized opportunities for socializing. Even though Chambers is a sophomore, he doesn’t find it a problem to be in an advisory role for juniors and seniors. “People generally respect and appreciate RAs,” he says. Chambers says his upperclass residents are “pretty cool and come to stuff.”

An open house at which juniors and seniors hosted first-year students in their dorm rooms early in the year worked well, as does organizing intramural sports teams as a floor. Sherry Mooney ’09 (St. Louis), a second-year RA in Evans Hall, says, “If you offer food, they will come.” She notes that a potluck or progressive dinner with a theme such as “make a dish from home” offers students an opportunity to “cook together, eat together, and explain the history of what they chose to make.”

Dan Callahan ’08 (Centerville, Ga.), a third-year RA responsible for 20 students in the Laird Stadium apartments, believes it’s important that students feel at home in their residence. “You need a sense that it’s not just you in your room against the world,” he says. “You need to know your neighbors, know who’s going to share your common spaces, and be comfortable with that.”

Age to age

Carleton recognizes that residential life means different things to different people. While most first-year students enjoy having upperclass students on their floor, it is not uncommon for seniors to be busy with the friendship groups they have established during their time at Carleton. As a result, seniors often don’t actively seek many interactions with first-year students. Nevertheless, the College believes that interspersing all classes leads to “informal advising,” says Bucky Zietz, associate dean of students. “If sophomores talk to a junior or a senior about majors, classes, professors, that’s a different conversation than if they talk to a staff person. Those interactions are valuable to our students,” he says.

Mollie Lam ’09 (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), who lives in Nourse Hall, says Carls do develop friendships with peers of all class years, but not usually through close living quarters. “It’s unreasonable to expect that a 22-year-old and an 18-year-old fresh out of high school will become friends when their only link is geography,” she says. “These kind of friendships are usually formed through sports, classes, or clubs, not dorms. Generally, I think the argument for class-integrated dorms is convincing, but the best idea is to create semi-integrated dorms.” Lam would prefer a system that designates dorms for students only one year apart in experience, such as primarily frosh and sophomore, or sophomore and junior. “If administrators are trying to get Carls to like each other, they’re not looking too closely—we already like each other,” Lam says.

Zietz agrees that togetherness can’t be forced. “There are students who want to be left alone or just want to be among their friendship groups,” he says. “Are we going to make them be more social? No. We want students to have a positive experience that fits their needs and wants. We hope that experience will include both personal time as well as time being part of the larger community.”

Across the board

That larger community extends beyond dorm floor life. Each residence hall has a Hall Community Board to help students think beyond 3rd Davis or 4th Watson. These boards create and plan hall-wide activities, such as the Musser Trick-or-Treating Night for local children on Halloween, or Casino Night, an event in which several dorms participate. The residents of Carleton’s cultural and interest houses are responsible for planning events related to issues appropriate to a house’s theme, such as Farm House’s Harvest Festival, movie marathons at Science Fiction House, and Chili Night, an event sponsored jointly by Stimson House and the Office of Intercultural Affairs at which students eat chili and talk about race and gender issues.

Carleton also recently changed its class dean structure to better support each stage of a student’s college career. Each of the associate deans of students—Joe Baggot, Cathy Carlson, Bruce Colwell, Bucky Zietz—is responsible for a class level, such as first-year or sophomore, rather than moving with a class from freshman year to graduation, as was previously the case. “This way we can understand better a particular stage of a student’s development and provide programming appropriate for each age level,” Zietz says. For example, Zietz, who is the sophomore class dean, encourages RAs to use Carleton’s Third Center Fund to take a group of sophomores and a faculty member out to dinner, offering the students an informal way to learn about majoring in that professor’s field.

“We have been intentional about the learning opportunities that residential living can impart to our students,” Dean of Students Wagner says. “This is an environment in which they can initiate projects to build their leadership skills and become good neighbors and good stewards of the values they have agreed upon.” Carleton students have proven successful at using their living spaces as the starting point for campuswide events. For example, in 2002 Reed Martin ’03 founded the popular DVD Fest, an annual student-run film festival that encourages small groups of students to plan, shoot, and edit a movie. In 2006 and 2007 students participated in a midwinter campus energy war to see which dorm and interest house could reduce per capita energy use the most in a month.

Build it and they will come

The facilities themselves play a role in establishing residential life. Carleton’s student housing comes in many forms, from standard doubles in traditional dorms to private bedrooms clustered around a common room to town houses and interest houses. The College recognizes that, in general, first- and second-year students have a higher need for facilities that encourage connecting with friends, whereas juniors and seniors often prefer suite- and apartment-style spaces with more privacy and autonomy from the College. Shared spaces like lounges, kitchens, and small- and large-group gathering areas are important, too.

“Structures are crucial to a healthy community,” Wisener says, noting that Carleton tries to provide students with a good balance between private space and areas where they can come together for dining, studying, and socializing. According to Wisener, these common spaces are invaluable to student interaction. Unfortunately, many common areas have been converted to dorm rooms in recent years, as the College has experienced overcrowding due to slightly increased enrollments. Carleton last built a full-scale residential facility, Watson Hall, in 1967.

Carleton’s Residential Life Task Force, chaired by Wagner and Fred Rogers ’72, vice president and treasurer, recently assessed the College’s housing capacity. In its May 2007 Report of Student Housing Capacities and Options, the task force recommended that the College begin developing plans for additional student housing to be built starting in 2008, and in October the Board of Trustees approved construction of two new residence halls on a site south of and facing the Language and Dining Center (see “Housing Market,” at right).

Trustees also approved further study on the renovation of Evans Hall. All these projects are aimed at encouraging more upperclass students to live on the campus’s east side, which has tended to house more first-year and sophomore students, due to fewer suite-style living options.

Another task force goal is to reduce the number of students—currently more than 200—who live off campus in commercial rental properties through an arrangement known as Northfield Option. The College would like to bring many of those students back to campus, limiting the Northfield Option.

“We recognize that some students thrive better in an independent living environment away from College housing, so we need to provide the option for those few,” says Zietz. That said, he and others believe that a primary goal of a residential liberal arts college is to provide students with a self-contained educational environment in which they can live and learn together.
Most students agree that the College needs additional beds—no one likes living in a converted lounge—but some bristle at the idea of requiring more students to live on campus, at least until the residential spaces reflect more closely the type of community they want.

“Carleton needs more off-board options like the town houses for its older students,” says Megan Ward ’08 (Rochester, N.Y.), who lives in an apartment three blocks from campus. “Someplace where you can be a little bit removed from the craziness of the dorms, but still be in the campus fold.” Carleton’s town houses are appealing to seniors, Ward says, but are difficult to get into: “They usually go within the first 25 room-draw numbers,” she says (see “Luck of the Draw,” page 38).

Home, green home

With two new residence halls in the works, Carleton has an opportunity to make “really livable and pleasant” environments for students, says Tim Singer ’08 (New York City), who lives in an off-campus house and is president of the Carleton Student Association. He believes most students would like the new residential space to mesh with Carleton’s classic architecture, move beyond a utilitarian function, and be environmentally sustainable.

“I’d build something that people could get excited about living in, that is full of character, and that will age well,” he says. “Also, it needs to have something, like a coffee shop or meeting spaces, to bring people to that space for reasons other than to go to bed. Make it as green as it can be, because living in a healthy, green space engenders healthy minds and activity.”

Carleton is committed to achieving at minimum a silver rating in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system in all of its new building and major remodeling projects, including the new residence halls. In February 2007 President Rob Oden signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which pledges to eliminate campus greenhouse gas emissions over time. Using the nationally recognized LEED system will help Carleton meet that commitment.

“Sustainability is all about what we actually do, not about the rhetoric attached to this worthy end,” Oden says. “Still, national recognition for our sustainability efforts is a welcome affirmation of our work toward this goal. And LEED ratings have done a signal service in moving many in this country toward sustainability.”

LEED rates buildings according to their compliance with standards in sustainable design, construction, and operation, particularly in six categories: a sustainable site, water usage efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and an innovative design process.

The site for Carleton’s new residence halls is fairly sheltered and has good south exposure, making it ideal for solar-powered energy, says Rob Lamppa, Carleton’s director of energy management and senior project manager, who is also a LEED-certified design professional. Carleton intends to use locally obtained (within 500 miles) building materials. Other plans call for using porous paving materials and constructing rain gardens, or small absorption ponds, to manage storm water runoff. An example of an innovative design that is likely to be used in the halls, according to Lamppa, is an indoor kiosk that will meter all gas, electric, and water utilities so that students can see daily energy usage. Carleton also is pursuing plans, though they are not yet final, to optimize energy performance by using carbon dioxide sensors in larger rooms to avoid unnecessary ventilation, installing photovoltaic panels on the roof, and using solar energy to partially heat water.

Environmental activism and sustainable living are becoming more commonplace in students’ experiences, and constructing facilities that are environmentally sound is one way Carleton can continue to lead by example, says Oden.

“One of the key roles of colleges and universities is to be leaders,” he says. “We can hardly, here at Carleton or even jointly with other colleges, solve the globe’s environmental challenges. But we can serve as beacons in the fog that can obscure these challenges. And it would be unworthy of Carleton not to utilize fully the expertise and the energy of our staff, faculty, and students in our sustainability efforts.”

As Carleton moves forward, through a thoughtful and inclusive process, in constructing new spaces that both meet students’ living needs and enhance the intellectual community inherent to a residential liberal arts college, the challenge will be to provide enough variety in housing to accommodate students at each stage of their college careers while engaging them all in the daily life of the campus.

Marla Holt is a staff writer and editor at Carleton.

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Hall Moniker

Think you know the reputation of Carleton’s residence halls? See if you can match each hall to descriptions provided by current students.

A. Burton
B. Davis
C. Evans
D. Goodhue
E. Musser
F. Myers
G. Nourse
H. Severance
I. Town houses
J. Watson

1. good windows, freshmen, social, twin
2. thin walls, balconies, underclassmen, the ring*
3. prestigious, bathrooms, suites, upperclassmen
4. tiles, sterile, friendly, echo-y
5. confusing, sequestered, columns, parties
6. loud, dark, fancy, traffic
7. awesome, desirable, social, parties
8. central, quiet, swanky, the nunnery**
9. clean, isolated, motel, the kink***
10. secret, roof access, no kitchens, suites

* These floors are designed around a central elevator bay with the rooms along the outside walls, giving the building a “ring” effect.
** This dorm is home to Carleton’s only all-female floor.
*** This dorm’s long halls are kinked in the middle to give it a homier, smaller feel.

Answers: A6, B3, C5, D9, E4, F1, G8, H10, I7, J2

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Luck of the Draw

For nearly three hours on three nights each May, Great Hall is packed with nervous students attending Room Draw to determine where they will live the following year. It all starts in February, when students, according to class year, are assigned a number drawn in a random lottery. Rising seniors get the lowest or “good” numbers, juniors the next batch, and sophomores the highest or “bad” numbers.

At Room Draw, the seniors (and all the friends they plan to live with, regardless of class year) go first, followed by juniors the next night and sophomores the night after that. When a student’s number is called, he or she comes forward with roommates to claim their room. As each room is taken, the location is called out and checked off on huge floor plans hung on the wall.

Since no two Carleton rooms are alike, if you lose out on a double, you don’t just bump to the next identical double. Students can choose from singles, doubles, triples, quads, quints, sextets, and suites in all shapes, sizes, and arrangements. “The key is to not get your heart set on any one room, unless you have number one in the senior class,” says Tom Duda ’08 (St. Louis), who lives in a town house by virtue of a friend who had a great number.

“Room Draw is stressful,” says Hannah Kinzie ’08 (Evanston, Ill.), who lives in a quad suite in Severance. “If you were planning on a triple and right before your number is called, the last triple is taken, you have to decide immediately what to do based on what’s left. If you decide to do a double, which roommate gets left out? It can be cutthroat. I’ve seen people cry.”

With the housing crunch, some rising sophomores who are in the unlucky position of having a bad room-draw number have to worry that the College might run out of rooms and they’ll just get squeezed in with someone they don’t know. It’s an overcrowding situation that Carleton hopes to rectify with the construction of at least one new residence hall.

“I can’t think of another system that would be fair and wouldn’t have the same issues,” says residential life director Steve Wisener. “That’s why we tell students to have plenty of backup plans and to discuss potential scenarios beforehand.” His staff of RAs and hall directors is on hand during Room Draw to ease the stress and to help students make decisions they can live with. Literally.

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Housing Market

Two new residence halls will be built simultaneously and adjacent to one another on the east side of campus, south of and facing the Language and Dining Center. The first new student residence hall project since the opening of Watson Hall in 1967, one of the buildings will be named Cassat Hall in honor of a generous gift from George and Pat Cassat, both members of the Class of 1946. Groundbreaking for the two buildings is scheduled for spring 2008, with an expected fall 2009 completion date.

The design of the new residence hall project is under discussion now, but current plans show that it is likely to:

• House approximately 200 students from all class years;
• Be two separate but connected three- to four-story structures, one with suite-style units and one with traditional singles, doubles, and triples;
• Be of an environmentally sustainable design, as certified by the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) system; and
• Create a green quadrangle bordered on the other three sides by the Language and Dining Center, Nourse Hall, and Myers Hall.
  

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Packing it in

While Carleton dorm rooms always have contained a few sparse furnishings—bed, dresser, desk, chair, bookshelf—the advice given to first-year students on what to bring from home has changed over the years.

In the 1930s, packing tips for women were essentially advice on what to wear. A flannel housecoat and woolen “scuffies” were appropriate attire for studying, and hats “should always be worn for Vespers,” according to a Women’s League booklet mailed to incoming female students. The men were reminded to bring their sporting equipment and a coat and tie.

By the 1950s, “neat and casual” was the rule for the “exterior decoration” of women, with skirts, sweaters, and blouses recommended for class, and slacks or blue jeans for picnics and hayrides. The men would be comfortable in slacks and sports shirts, although “Levi’s and tee-shirts are not out of order.” The packing list also included an alarm clock, a metal wastebasket, and a desk lamp. Essentials for women were “extension cords, can openers, irons, and toothbrush cups.” For men: A phonograph, radio, flashlight, and typewriter were considered useful to have.

The 1980 “Coming to Carleton” booklet told students to adopt a “when in doubt, leave it out” policy—advice that hinted at students’ growing inclination to bring everything they own, as they are still inclined to do today. Clothing tips had been reduced to “Whatever you decide to wear, within reason, will be acceptable,” with the ever popular reminder that Minnesota is cold, so everyone needs a winter coat.

Today, Carleton’s packing checklist, provided by the Office of Residential Life, is broken down into “essential” and “nice to have.” Essentials include the obvious (shirts, backpack, toothbrush) and the maybe-not-so-obvious (hangers, pillows). A computer is considered “nice to have,” although most Carleton students do bring one to campus. A newer category is “what not to bring,” including pets, water beds, and weapons.

Though back-to-college merchandise has become big business ($47.3 billion in 2007, according to the National Retail Federation), Carleton students, true to their nature, rely on individual decorating tastes rather than big-ticket items to make their dorm rooms feel like home. After all, Carleton doesn’t offer individual cable service in its residence halls, so leave the plasma TV at home.

Web Extra: Read what Carleton students say they can’t live without.