Housing Subcommittee Holds Town Hall

Hill House, the largest residence hall on campus. The Hill House quiet floors and study lounge were among the topics of conversation at the town hall.

Resident advisors outnumbered students on October 10 as Residence Life staff and resident advisors gathered in the Performing Arts Center to discuss pertinent housing-related issues, respond to complaints, and to answer questions from the student body.

Moderating the panel were resident advisors Alexa Zartman-Ball ‘21, Sequoia Salasin ‘21, Cal Fyfe ‘21, and Eli Holmquist ‘22, along with Erica Monnin, Assistant Director of Resident Life. Myra McPhee, Director of Residence Life, was also present. The night’s agenda sought to address topics that consistently appeared in an online feedback form distributed by Residence Life earlier this year.

The first item on the docket was a restatement of Sarah Lawrence’s “quiet hours” policy, as well as a reminder to students about which housing options are quiet this year. They are Andrews House, the first and second floors of Hill House, MacCracken, Morris, O’Silas, Taylor A and D, Slonim House and Westlands.

Residence Life acknowledged a large number of noise complaints coming from the first and second floors of Hill House, which one student speculated could be due to the laundry room, TV lounge and study room located under them. Said student also suggested Residence Life consider making Hill House floors five and six quiet housing instead next year, although McPhee pointed out that this may pose an issue for mobility-impaired students who request quiet housing, as they need to be on the lower floors for safety reasons.

The next topic addressed was the issue of air conditioning on campus. The Hill House TV lounge now has air conditioning, and Residence Life solicited suggestions from students for other common spaces in which they would like to have air conditioning installed. They clarified that the college currently does not have the funds to implement air conditioning in every dorm, and recommended students bring fans and open windows to keep temperatures down during the hotter months. Likewise, the heating system will not be fully operational across campus for a number of weeks, so Residence Life recommended closing doors and windows and wearing extra layers to keep warm.

The committee briefly addressed the process for submitting work orders, and the reasons students may want to submit them. The work order form can be found by searching ‘work order’ on MySLC, or by following this link. Many complaints that students made on the online feedback form can be solved by filling out a work order, and common problems included broken or high-pressure shower heads and cockroaches.

Also addressed was the much-anticipated demand of winter break housing, which was listed as a demand presented during last spring’s Westlands sit-in. The panel said they were currently in the research stage of implementing this extension of housing, which involves looking at the housing models used by similar institutions, and polling faculty and staff.

“I don’t think we’re able to provide any real information yet,” said Monnin, who firmly stated that winter break housing will not be available this year. In order for a plan to be instituted, it would need to go through a process involving a recommendation by the housing committee, who would then make a formal recommendation to President Cristle Collins-Judd.

“If we’re going to do this, we want it to be done carefully and thoughtfully for the students who are going to be living here over winter break,” said Monnin. Monnin also encouraged students who had any questions or comments regarding the winter break housing proposal to email Residence Life at reslife@sarahlawrence.edu, or the Housing Subcommittee at housingsubcommittee@gm.slc.edu.

The panel also alluded to the idea proposed by the Westlands occupiers about a housing option specific to students of color. “There’s questions about it. We’re still looking into it. That’s it,” said McPhee.

The next discussed topic was food insecurity, which does not fall under the purview of the Housing Subcommittee, but is being addressed by a subcommittee of The Committee on Student Life. However, some ways in which food insecurity and residence life do overlap were discussed, and the panel reminded their audience that all resident advisors are required to hold at least three community meal events per semester. Students can also ask their RAs to hold more food-related events, organize van trips to local supermarkets, and purchase kitchen supplies for shared kitchen spaces.

The final issue discussed was the future of the Hill House study room, which has been sparsely used recently. Most students told Residence Life that they preferred to study at the library or in their rooms. A recurring sentiment was that the sole reason students do use the study room is for its printer, so any re-design of that area will retain a printer for student use. Current possibilities include making it a recreation room by adding some board games and the billiards table that used to live at the Black Squirrel, or making it another club space, similar to the one on the second floor of the Barbara Walters Campus Center.

Soon after, the panel opened the floor to questions, of which there were two. The first asked if Residence Life had a plan to mitigate the lack of housing by working with local landlords to encourage more seniors to rent housing off-campus. The panel responded that they did not have a plan in place for this. The second was a suggestion from a resident of WRGT (the housing community of Westlands, Garrison, Rothschild, and Taylor), to plant trees in between RGT and Kimball avenue to block out sound and light from nearby traffic. Residence Life took both suggestions into account.

Any questions or comments about the discussions at the housing town hall or housing committee in general can be emailed to housingsubcommittee@gm.slc.edu. 

Steven Orlofsky ‘22 and Micaela Eckett ‘21