Enrollment is down, which means the university is making less money. One way to get more money without needing to enroll more students is to get more upperclassmen to live on campus instead of getting their own houses and apartments in town. The campus is trying to start Special Interest Community Housing. This involves getting clubs to live on campus, which would set up a tradition of keeping students on campus until graduation.
The most familiar example of this type of housing are sorority and fraternity houses off-campus. Even though Fredonia doesn’t have mansions with big Greek lettering on them like the movies, there are still houses associated with each group around town. But imagine bringing those houses on campus, and adding other groups besides Greek life, like The Leader, for example.
“First and foremost, I don’t think this is a good idea on the administration’s part. I also don’t think students are going to go for it,” said one Leader staff member. “I don’t think it’s a good idea because students living with an affiliated group causes more drama and relationship issues (think of reality TV), and it also causes more general debauchery. This would cause a slew of new problems, and I definitely wouldn’t want to write the police blotters in a world where this kind of housing was allowed.”
The Leader staff is like one big family. But, we also get to go to separate homes at the end of the day, which is probably responsible for most of our camaraderie. If we all left the office to go home to the same suite, it’s almost guaranteed we’d get on each others’ nerves more, making us less productive and less happy being in the club.
“Friends meet each other in college through clubs and sometimes end up living together because of that,” said another Leader staff member. “That’s okay, though, because there’s no obligation to live with people other than your friends. If a club had a suite that members felt obligated to live in, club members would ultimately have very little control over who they live with.”
Not to mention that living off-campus is a valuable learning experience. Yes, moving away to college in the first place is a big step forward, but living on-campus is very different from living in your own house or apartment. You don’t learn the value of a clean bathroom until you are your own cleaning lady.
“I think it is valuable to live on campus for the first two years because of all the people you meet, but you look forward to living off campus on your own,” said a third Leader staff member. “I think it shows a sense of responsibility and everyone looks forward to it.”
Special Interest Housing sounds like a good idea on paper: How nice does it sound to have a place for your club, especially if you don’t have an office on campus? But, it’s safe to say you won’t see a Leader suite on campus any time soon.