Class of 2027 and on to Live Six Semesters on Campus
Autumn often brings out nesting tendencies as we make our houses or dorms into homes as best we can. Students living on the University of Dallas campus are blessed to be in close proximity to one another, growing together while individuating our own spaces. Last year, in an effort to boost our on-campus community, UD changed its off-campus living policy.
Until the class of 2027 enrolled at UD, students could move off campus after they had obtained 90 credits, or if they had turned 21 before the fall semester began. Now, students enrolling in or after the fall of 2023 may move off campus only after six semesters spent on campus in Clark Hall, the student apartments, or one of the seven traditional residence halls. Transfer students will hopefully have their credits respected in light of this.
Dr. Roper, who resided in Madonna Room 123 for three years as an undergraduate, says that “the previous policy created a lot of confusion and bad feelings. Students wanted to claim exemptions if their 21st birthdays fell after the fall semester started, but we had to have some cutoff date.” Under the old regulation, students would also have to pay a $500 contract breakage fee if they wanted to move off-campus mid-year after turning 21.
After a fruitful discussion between Dr. Roper and the University of Notre Dame Dean of Students (Notre Dame has a six-semester living requirement and successfully integrates different classes into the same hall), UD decided to cut the stress and suffering and adopt the same policy. For reference, undergraduates at Benedictine College must live on-campus all four years of school, while Franciscan University has a housing policy similar to the one UD is phasing out.
Some students speculate that the campus’s 953 beds, a number of which lie empty this year, will not suffice to shelter those required to live on-campus. Numerically speaking, only 53% of UD students currently live on-campus, making this speculation less worrisome. That said, junior Kyle Brinkman still believes that “UD cannot effectively implement this policy without first building new on-campus housing, preferably similar to the Student Apartments, and lowering the cost of living on-campus.”
Dorm living creates tight bonds between freshmen over common room cooking or the bright blue brick walls in their rooms. Although current freshmen and sophomores are the classes affected by the change, this policy aims to enhance upperclassman involvement in the long run. Three in four students surveyed agree that UD’s upperclassmen are currently active on campus, but half of students surveyed believe the change won’t affect on-campus life; as freshman Monica Beatty put it, “Those who were not as present on campus before will remain so and those that were will continue to play an active role in the community.”
Upperclassmen responding to the survey look at the issue from a different perspective. Some, like junior Franny Barvick, feel that living off-campus increases involvement in on-campus activities, since “it’s usually not worth the hassle of going back and forth between classes.”
Several upperclassmen, like senior Amalia Ryland, appreciate how “responsibilities like paying rent and electricity, even buying and making food, allow students to prepare for post-college life in a practical way.” Students will now wait until senior year to fully practice these responsibilities.
However, Kyle Brinkman says he “can see the good in this policy because as a junior living off campus, all of my friends are scattered around the area and I rarely see them.” Standardizing living requirements for juniors will hopefully foster their class community and encourage them to reintegrate with underclassmen after they return from Rome.The University believes that upperclassmen living on-campus motivate and strengthen our community, and that upperclassmen are wonderful brother and sister figures to their freshman neighbors. Freshman Margaret Frank agrees, saying, “If people leave campus, the underclassmen that come in and don’t know anyone won’t have as much of an opportunity to participate. I’m lucky enough to know many upperclassmen, but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have known about what have been some of the most wonderful evenings already.”