Corrie Walker
Guest Writer
Dorm: A community of students living together under the same roof ; a thin-walled, over-used building; a house of memories
In the last month, roughly 230 Bryan students were surveyed about the dorms they live in on the Hill. Here is a summary of the results:
Arnold Residence Hall, built in 1972, is the second oldest women’s residence hall on campus. Its three floors house roughly 100 students. Unlike the other women’s dorms, Arnold is a suite-style residence hall in which two dorm rooms are connected by a bathroom. The dorm rooms are laid out in a way which separates study time and bed time; a large desk console acts as a wall, dividing the beds from the desk area.
Results of the Arnold survey suggest that although the women are extremely friendly, the dorm is just a little out of date. “Too much dust,” said one anonymous respondent.
Huston Residence Hall, built in 1964, is the oldest women’s dorm at Bryan. The 52 dorm rooms are spread between four floors on straight, wide hallways. Huston has community style bathrooms, each half of a floor sharing a few toilets and showers. The movable furniture allows for each room to have its own personality.
The Huston residents represented their dorm well in the poll and results show that the women are overall happy with their living space, most results being “good.”
Huston women are very pleased with the community they have established. “The bright, short halls and non-suite-style rooming make a tighter-knit dorm family,” said anonymous Huston resident. Similarly, another respondent said, “I love Huston. It’s the FUN dorm!”
Despite the residents’ happiness with Huston’s sociability, many women commented on their desires to see Huston renovated. One respondent said, “I would like to see a revival of the lounge rooms on each hall, since the hallways are extremely uncomfortable places in which to pull all-nighters, but overall I still think this is the best dorm on campus.”
Another resident commented, “I love the dorm. It’s just too out of date. The bathrooms are horrendous too. But it’s the best dorm socially.”
Robinson, built only six years ago in 2006, houses 120 women. The four floors have long, slightly curved hallways and community style bathrooms. Each floor has a furnished lounge, and the higher floors have a wonderful view of campus. The dorm is located a few yards from the gym, which is quite convenient seeing that Robinson is almost entirely filled with athletes.
Robinson scored the highest of the three women’s dorms, maintaining a high “very good” across the board. When taking the survey, several voters said, “I love Robinson!” Seeing that Robinson is the newest dorm, it is logical that its residents are very pleased with living there. “I really enjoy living in Robinson. It is much cleaner and more open than the other dorms. We have some incredible RAs in our dorm that create an exciting and fun atmosphere,” wrote another respondent.
Long Residence Hall, built in 1964, is the oldest dorm on campus, brother hall to the women’s dorm, Huston. The men’s dorm has tiled floors and “long” hallways leading to the 52 dorm rooms. The dorm is equipped with community style bathrooms, a lounge, kitchen and laundry room. Unlike the other men’s dorm, Long has movable furniture.
Based on the survey results, it appears that Long residents are slightly more pleased with their residence hall than Woodlee’s men. Long scored average, and in several categories above average, on the survey. One resident who complete the survey said, “Long is the best dorm. Better than the prison Woodlee and lazy people in Robinson that have an elevator (Actually, I’m only just jealous of that).”
Woodlee-Ewing, built in 1984, is the largest residence hall on campus, housing roughly 170 young men. The dorm has suite-style rooms, like Arnold, and built-in furniture to provide two private halves of the room.
However, it is the furniture set-up that seems to dissatisfy most of the men in Woodlee. This reflects in the “fair” rating of the modernity of furniture. One resident commented, “Great dorm, could maybe use some work in each room. The beast of a desk in the middle of the room could probably be made slightly smaller for more room.”
Despite its age, Woodlee earned a score of “very good” in the sociability category. “Woodlee has been around a long time and hasn’t been upgraded much (with the exception of the dorm’s lounge). It’s a close community with older fashioned rooms,” said another resident.
The Townhouses are the newest additions to Bryan’s residence facilities, built in 2010. There are two buildings, one for men and one for women. One building contains six apartments and the other holds five. Each apartment houses six students in three rooms, each student pair having their own shower. The six roommates share a full kitchen and living room area with cable TV. Townhouse residents are not required to be on the school’s meal plan or observe curfew.
The Townhouses scored “excellent” in several categories, higher than any of the other residence halls. This is expected seeing that not only are they new, they also allow for more independence, something many Bryan students are desperate for. They, in a sense, ease upperclassmen in to off-campus life, the real world.
“The townhouses are much better than the dorms. They are much more spacious, and being able to have members of the opposite sex in your apartment more than once a week is nice,” said one anonymous Townhouse resident.
Based on the results from each of the dorm surveys, one thing is apparent: It’s not about where you live, it’s about who you live with. The memories you make in college are not formed in class, but in your residence halls. You sleep, study and act silly with the people in your dorm. When you look back at your college days 20 years from now, you will not recall that one test you failed. You will remember the late-night pranks, mattress-tackling excursions and the way-too-loud laughter echoing in your dorm hallway in the wee hours of the night.