Dorm Disparities: Is It Fair For Students?
By JOHANNA HILLMAN ‘28
While some dorms are shiny and new — with laminate flooring, large desks attached to walls, and shower cubicles — others are musty and old — with bug infestations, suspiciously-colored tiles, and rusty fridges. While some dorms have discrete common rooms and kitchens filled with couches and tables to work or lounge at, others have singular common rooms so small that not even half the dorm is able to squeeze inside. One must wonder how this can be fair. After all, tuition remains the same whether your dorm is so new it doesn’t yet have a name or if it has been slated for renovation again and again, and yet, for some reason, has never been renovated. While new PEA students do fill out a dorm survey with their preferences, the dorm you end up in is really a matter of luck. While some students end up in a dorm that is perfectly located and sized to fit their needs, others are saddled with a walk to their sports that is almost a mile long or a dorm that is much larger or smaller than they would have liked.
One could argue for tuition cuts for the families of students in lower-quality dorms. However, this would open up another can of worms in which wealthier students are able to buy their way into nicer dorms, something that would be undoubtedly unfair.
So, what can the Office of Residential Life do to remedy this issue? While, in an ideal world, older dorms could be renovated to reduce the quality gap between dorms, it’s unlikely that the administration would decide to do this, considering the cost and logistics of taking multiple dorms out of commission for a year. However, there are a few ways that the Student Council and the administration could better the dorms and improve the quality of life for everyone.
One thing that’s clear is that dorms should be equal in terms of their kitchen appliances. It might not be possible to replace a whole dorm, but a fridge or microwave? That is something that can and should be replaced — especially considering that newer and recently-renovated dorms tend to have nicer kitchen set-ups than older dorms, increasing the disparity between older and newer dorms. Guaranteeing that every dorm has the same quality and amount of kitchen appliances could help to narrow this quality gap.
Furthermore, dorms currently don’t just vary in terms of the physical building, but also in the amount of events the dorm hosts. Some dorms have proactive dorm heads and proctors, giving residents ample opportunities to socialize and bake, make crafts, or eat food as a dorm. However, other dorms lack these events, making fun opportunities for whole-dorm socialization a rarity. Dorm life could benefit from established dorm events with supplies to each dorm provided by Student Council. Craft nights, movie nights, or game nights are all fun events that require minimal, inexpensive supplies but could provide opportunities for dorm bonding.
The fact of the matter is that dorms will never be exactly equal. No matter how standardized dorm events are or how frequently dorms are renovated, each dorm will always have its downsides, especially when it comes to location, which will always vary between dorms and community, which is subject to the people in the dorms and can change from year to year. However, many of the disparities between dorms can be fixed. By making sure that each dorm has a kitchen set-up that can serve the dorm’s residents and provide scheduled dorm events, the quality gap between dorms can be narrowed, supplying every student on campus with a more enjoyable dorm experience.
