How the Condos and the Mill build Character and Promote Autonomy
The University of Dallas is home to eight undergraduate residence halls, the mixed Clark Hall and several Student Apartments.
However, the UD student body is not solely confined to these on-campus residences, with many upperclassmen living off campus just across the street in the University Place condos and Tower Village apartments.
Many UD students also commute from their homes in the broader Irving area, and some live only a little further from campus than the trans-Northgate residences in either the Westloop or Sagemont apartment complexes.
However, the condos and the ‘Mill’ are unique amongst off-campus dwellings because they are (in some cases literally) only a stone’s throw from the school. Indeed, many condo or Mill dwellers have a shorter stroll to their classrooms than even some dorm residents.
This proximity, as well as the sheer number of students who live across the street, creates a sort of concurrent UD community experience that complements life on campus.
Condo-ites and Millians possess a unique position that is a kind of in-between of traditional dorm life and the commuter experience. This unique position is an essential part of the broader UD community.
Because they live off campus, trans-Northgatians have the privilege of greater independence both from University control and for the development of personal autonomy.
In these residences, students almost always live with other students, creating a dorm-like feel. However, unlike the dorms, students have no RAs, RCs, UDPD or administration to monitor and regulate their daily life.
Of course, this is not always a good thing, and with great freedom comes great responsibility. As Dean Roper reminds off-campus students every year, they are now under the jurisdiction of the law and regulations of the greater community, and without the protective forcefield that the university provides.
However, this freedom and concomitant necessity for personal responsibility is a great opportunity for older students to begin the transition to normal, non-academic life.
Senior Jude McLoughlin said, “living in the Mill forces me to be more independent and competent in managing my own life.”
Since mainly upperclassmen are allowed to reside in the condos and the Mill, these places provide them with a separate space to promote UD community and the integration and mentoring of the younger students.
Many underclassmen admire the example of their upperclassman counterparts across the street, and strive to be like them, eventually inhabiting a condo or Mill apartment themselves.
Upperclassmen have the freedom to take initiative in hosting student gatherings and provide an example to the underclassmen of managing one’s affairs and living as an independent adult.
The condos and the Mill provide a place for students to take what they are learning across the street in their classes and extracurriculars and implement it in their personal lives. They are training grounds for the application of their prized UD education to the “real world” outside of academia.
Living on campus is an excellent and necessary experience for university students. As Evelyn Waugh opined in his essay “Was Oxford Worthwhile?” a university provides a safe and controlled environment for brand-new adults to test out life beyond childhood and iron out the kinks in one’s character and aptitude with a protective buffer against real-world consequences.
Life in the condos and the Mill is the next step in this development. In a sense, the training wheels are taken off and UDers are able to begin their adult independence while still being primarily students.
UD students rise to this challenge. The community and camaraderie that students living in the condos and the Mill are indispensable to the health of the UD community in general.
The autonomy and responsibility that these students enjoy and display provides an example towards which underclassmen can strive and promotes a healthy underclassmen-upperclassmen relationship.
Part of what makes UD life great is that it is more than just academics and the on-campus experience. Student life across Northgate enriches the entire university community.