Starting in the fall 2010 semester, various changes in the Living and Learning Communities (LLCs) of Pondside III residence hall will bring non-LLC residents in for the first time since 2007.
The LLCs currently occupy all suites in Pondside III. Each suite is dedicated to a certain topic of interest, such as “Going Green” or “Literature Appreciation” and are required to keep active in the Keene State College community.
According to Kent Drake-Deese, Director of Residential Life, only suites with eight or ten occupants will house LLCs next year.
Drake-Deese said this means smaller LLCs, such as the Buddhist Minds LLC, which currently houses only three people, won’t be eligible to become an LLC next year unless it has enough members to fill larger suites.
According to Drake-Deese, the reason behind this new policy is that Residential Life is shooting for quality over quantity.
“They tended to be just a few pals who wanted to live together,” Drake-Deese said.
Drake-Deese said larger groups are more established and more dedicated to the learning community.
The rest of the suites in Pondside III will be available via the lottery system during the general housing selection process.
Junior Katte Gavrity, who lives in the Social Justice LLC, said making the rest of the building available to non-LLC residents is a good thing.
“I think it sucks that some people have to do work while others don’t,” Gavrity said, “but they choose to be in LLCs.”
Not all people feel positive about the change.
Junior Steve Gonzalez, member of the Buddhist Minds LLC, said it’s unfair to have people living there without having to put work into programs. Gonzalez said housing regular residents defeats the purpose of Pondside III.
“It seems redundant in that we have facilities on campus without LLCs that are similar, like Butler,” Gonzalez said. “Pondside III was built for LLCs.”
“I know it was said a lot that it [Pondside III] was built for LLCs but I don’t know if that’s necessarily true,” Drake-Deese said.
LLCs currently run on a system of cycles, which will also change next year. A cycle is a set of events that must be completed each year in an effort to stay active in the community and keep residence in Pondside III.
One cycle includes one campus-wide event, three building-wide events and one community service event. The current system assigns a certain number of cycles based on the number of people in the LLC. Cycles can be doubled and tripled depending upon the number of students in the LLC.
“That’s been the biggest feedback,” said Nate Gordon, Residential Director of Pondside III. “People are upset that some people have to do less, some have to do more, and it’s unfair.”
According to Gordon, next year, each LLC will instead be required to participate in one diversity program, one affinity program and one campus-wide program. Affinity programs are events pertaining to the set of goals each LLC is formed around.
In addition to their LLC’s requirements, students will have to complete individual requirements. The first of which will be to maintain a 2.25 GPA.
Participants will also need to host a community service project. Those not meeting these requirements will be removed from the LLC and placed in housing elsewhere on campus.
Individual requirements are expected to be important.
According to Drake-Deese, this will prevent students from slacking off in the LLCs duties and put equal responsibility on the shoulders of their suite mates. The new policy was decided by student feedback.
“I fundamentally disagree with this,” Drake-Deese said. “But that’s student feedback, that’s the process working.”
According to Gordon, they’ve gotten positive feedback so far from residents.
“From what I’ve heard,” Gordon said, “people are like, ‘Yay, it’s about time,’ or ‘That’ll be really good for next year.’”
While people are reportedly pleased with the changes to individual requirements, there are those who feel strongly against them.
Junior Paul Harris, a member of the Social Justice LLC, said he disagrees with the new individual requirements.
“It’s bullshit,” Harris said.
Harris said he understands the idea of LLCs and people living together who share common interests, but he said they shouldn’t be pushed to do more programs outside of academics.
“It’s already stressful enough,” Harris said. “It shouldn’t add more to your academic life.”
Gordon said these changes shouldn’t clash with a student’s academic life.
“If it is taking away from your schoolwork, then maybe being in an LLC isn’t something I support,” Gordon said.
However, Drake-Deese also said some changes are due to the difficulty of placing students in suites. Because every suite is a different size and contains a different configuration of rooms it’s difficult to put a pre-determined group in the space.
“It’s really a nightmare,” Drake-Deese said. “Students would also be upset because they didn’t get the suite they wanted or we had to add or subtract a person or two.”
Senior Justin Sadzewicz, a member of the Leadership LLC, said he sees this change as an act of laziness on the part of Residential Life.
“I think the reason they’re doing this is because they really don’t know how to manage it and they didn’t put the time and effort to do it properly,” Sadzewicz said.
Sadzewicz said that it’s unfortunate and he worries Residential Life is going to end up phasing out the LLC system. He said increased involvement from Residential Life has caused more harm than good.
“They’ve ultimately destroyed it,” Sadzewicz said.
Gordon said if the new housing system in Pondside III doesn’t go well then Residential Life would be willing to change it back for the 2011-2012 academic year.
“If it flops then we know it didn’t work out,” Gordon said.
Garrett Beltis can be contacted at gbeltis@keeneequinox.com.
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