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  Colby is Hot
Rooms Are Scarce
The "no vacancy" sign is out.
An incoming class with 50 more students than the College anticipated has
required some creative solutions to find beds for all on-campus students.
Thirty-nine sophomores are in rooms converted from lounges in several residence
halls, says Associate Dean of Students Paul Johnston, who calls this year's
housing situation the tightest since 1991.
Rather than place additional students in double rooms, Johnston says, Colby
merely restored rooms that became lounges after the Heights was built in 1981.
"When we say some students are living in lounges, that's really a misnomer
because they were [student] rooms to begin with," Johnston said. "We just
pulled the sofas out and put the beds back in."
Johnston says students who are living in temporary housing seem to be adjusting
well. "I haven't heard from any of those students that there has been a problem
or that they would like some other arrangement," he said. The College gave
each of the students in temporary housing a $200 rebate on their room charge
and an assurance that they would be relocated after the first semester,
Johnston says.
Lindsay McConchie, a sophomore from Lincoln, Mass., lives in a converted lounge
on the second floor of Averill and says she's basically satisfied with the
arrangement. Her room is the same size as others on her floor, but because it
has windows looking out to the hallway a "curtain" of white paper has been
installed for privacy. "At night more light shines through than I would like,
but it's not bad," she said. "I would rather have this than be in a triple."
Johnston says the College knew last spring that "we were going to be loaded"
when almost 600 prospective students paid housing deposits. Even accounting for
attrition--what administrators call "summer melt"--Johnston says the Campus
Housing Committee estimated an on-campus shortfall of 50 to 75 beds.
Fortunately, a higher-than-usual number of students requested permission to
live off campus, freeing up enough beds to absorb the excess in temporary
housing, Johnston says.
More than 180 students requested off-campus housing, according to Johnston,
30-40 above the normal figure. "It got us out of what would have been a pretty
uncomfortable housing situation," he said. The 100-or-so students who were
released to go off campus in the spring were immediately increased to about
175, Johnston says. A few more requests were honored before the school year
began to bring the number of students on campus within striking distance of the
number of beds that could be made available.
This happy coincidence does have a down side, however, Johnston says. "Our
numbers for off-campus housing have increased signi-ficantly over the past two
years, and that's something we need to take a look at," he said. "As the
College moves toward the year 2000, we want to be able to respond if there is a
feeling we need to recapture these folks [who are moving off the Hill]."
"What we're hearing is that students want a more apartment-like experience,"
Johnston said.
President Bill Cotter alluded to the growing number of off-campus requests in
his State of the College Address and said the Board of Trustees is studying
residence hall improvements and possible changes in housing options. "We want
to do all we can to make residential life attractive for all students," he
said.
Trees, Bees and Scraped Knees
In case there weren't enough variables to worry about as 651 new Colby
stu-dents and trip leaders set out on Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips (COOT)
over Labor Day weekend, Student Activities Director Ben Jorgen-sen '92 lost
sleep over fugi-tives in the Caratunk woods.
Two men wanted on warrants, armed with guns and flushed out of the cabin in
which they'd been hiding were pursued into the wilderness by law enforcement
personnel using ATVs, dogs and helicopters. The same wilderness lodged three
groups of COOTers, which gave Jorgensen (who, along with his staff, organizes
COOT) some jitters. But as it turned out, the manhunt-ers didn't cross paths
with the Colby students. The COOTers heard about the excitement from the
owners of the campgrounds where they were staying.
The 1995 sessions marked COOT's 20th anniversary, and it was an unusual year
for the program. The 651 students were assigned to 52 separate trips, up from
48 last year and an all-time high. For the first time in just under two
decades, outdoor burning was banned in Maine over the Labor Day holiday, thanks
to a relentless drought that left most of the state critically dry by summer's
end. (Even the fireworks planned on campus to celebrate COOT's 20th had to be
postponed.) Only those groups staying in state parks and commercial campgrounds
were allowed to have open fires--over-land hiking trips probably, as one
administrator put it, "had to bond over their Froot Loops."
No matter. COOT was a big success. Jorgensen reported that only three students
were injured or became ill--one suffered a broken collarbone, one had stomach
flu and another twisted an ankle. The biggest problem, he said, was bee stings.
Bees were "especially present," Jorgensen said, and Maine meteorologists had
spent the summer warning that the bees were grumpy about the lack of
moisture.
Jorgensen found the bright side. "No anaphylactic reactions," he said.
Overseas Fees
Effective with the Class of 1999, students who wish to transfer credit to Colby
from an approved international or domestic non-Colby program will pay a fee of
$1,000 per semester. The charge will apply for all non-Colby programs.
The proposal was endorsed by the Financial Priorities Committee and the
Academic Affairs Committee before being approved by the Board of Trustees last
year. The fees will help pay for a variety of support services, including
faculty advisers, departmental committees and the four-person Off-Campus Study
Office that both advises students and screens and approves non-Colby
programs.
The measure drew sharp criticism from The Colby Echo and prompted a
letter to the editor from Dean of Faculty Bob McArthur explaining why the fee
was necessary. "The one thousand dollar fee . . . will
spread some portion of the costs of our foreign study program over those
students on non-Colby programs who currently do not pay anything to the College
at all. The approximately two hundred thousand dollars in revenue will provide
us with the opportunity to improve the quality of Colby overseas experiences
for all students and will, to some extent, shift the burden away from those
students on campus who are currently footing the bill," McArthur said.
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Cereal Killer
According to the Echo, breakfast at Dana has lost its Charms.
The days when students could choose Lucky Charms and "all the sugar cereals Mom
wouldn't buy you at home" are gone. Citing a need to cut waste, manager of
Lovejoy Dining Services Bill Bayle told the Echo that some cereal had to
go. Students will have to get by on eight cereal selections.
"We had so many out there that they went stale," Bayle said. "We kept adding
and adding cereals and they were not as fresh. We got complaints, too."
The Echo's tongue-in-cheek criticism of the move lamented that students
can no longer sample "a new cereal every day for a month--from Cocoa Puffs to
Cap'n Crunch to Raisin Bran."
There are fewer choices, the Echo said, and "usually none with
marshmallows." |
Center of Attention
The Colby Echo, in a September 28 editorial, praised the building
of the Pugh Center of the Student Union as "an important step for Colby" that
"embodies our pledge to make the campus as diverse and accepting as
possible."
"The process involved in the decision to build the center is almost as
important as the center itself," the Echo said. "Students voiced their
concern over a consequential issue, actions were taken to see that they were
heard and a solution was found because of the students' persistence and
willingness to work with the trustees to find what was best for the College. To
all involved in the process, we applaud you and hope the Pugh Center marks the
beginning of a new trend in thoughtful student action." |
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Rosa Chang '97 and Student Association President Tom Ryan '96 attended the 1995
World Youth Leader Conference in Seoul, South Korea, last summer. The United
Nations conference brought together leaders in student government from
countries around the world.
"It was a great learning experience," Chang said. "I learned more from the
people I met than anything I did. I had three roommates: one from Lebanon, one
from Germany and one from Finland."
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