Colby Magazine Volume 93 Issue 2 Spring 2004 Article 8 July 2004 From the Hill Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/colbymagazine Recommended Citation (2004) "From the Hill," Colby Magazine: Vol. 93 : Iss. 2 , Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/colbymagazine/vol93/iss2/8 This Contents is brought to you for free and open access by the Colby College Archives at Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Magazine by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. From the Hill on campus A HousingDialogue Plan to link social and academic life under review n an effort to link academic and “The notion there, going back to Iresidential life at Colby more the strategic plan,” Adams said, “was formally, a form of housing based to afford these moments of connec- on students’ shared interest in broad tivity around academic issues that academic topics or themes, such as were broad and far-reaching in their the environment or social justice, has implications and, so, rather inclusive, been proposed. and to do it in very carefully limited Those two examples of potential circumstances. So you could imagine Dialogue Houses were suggested a part of your Colby experience being as pilots by the Trustee Working shaped in this way but not all of it or Group, a committee of trustees, even the primary part of it.” faculty, students and administrators Under the proposal, the College that was formed to consider, among other by some gay and lesbian students who said would designate the two pilot houses (a social issues, a proposal for multicultural housing they felt uncomfortable and even unsafe in justice house and a “green” or environmental at Colby. The group found the multicultural conventional housing and by some students house) for 2005-06. Proposals for other future housing proposal “too narrow in scope, too of color who said they wanted to live in a Dialogue Houses would be submitted to the potentially fragmenting, and based too exclu- residential environment that stresses support College Affairs and Academic Affairs com- sively on non-academic rationale,” according of diversity. mittees. The houses would need to have a to a report released January 20. The proposal The College Affairs Committee and the minimum of 20 residents, a faculty leader and for Dialogue Housing will be discussed on Academic Affairs Committee subsequently a clear plan for academic and civic activities. campus during the spring semester and could devised a modified plan for multicultural Group identity (e.g., gender, sexual orienta- be instituted in 2005-06. housing. Even in that carefully crafted form, tion, major, religion, participation in athlet- The Dialogue Housing proposal was to be however, multicultural housing “continues to ics) could not serve as an organizing theme aired in a variety of forums on campus begin- be a place that the institution . does not for a Dialogue House. Students could live ning in February, said President William D. choose to go,” Adams said. “I think there is in Dialogue Housing for only two semesters Adams. “We want to gather as much reaction an understandably raw nerve about any kind at Colby. First-year students would not be as we can about the proposal and see what of housing that suggests separations along eligible. interest there might be,” he said following the either racial and ethnic lines or ideological Vice President for Student Affairs Janice January meeting of the Board of Trustees. lines.” There is no room for negotiation on Kassman said she and others involved in devel- This latest proposal emerged from a multicultural housing at Colby, he said. “The opment of the Dialogue Housing concept conversation that began in 2001 when some door is closed on that.” considered several different versions of special faculty members said they saw a need to link A door is open, however, to a plan that housing in use at other colleges. “This [Dialogue Colby’s academic and social spheres more would permit students to live together based Housing] seemed to combine all of the elements closely. While that observation did not lead on shared academic thematic interests. A we wanted to achieve,” Kassman said. directly to thematic housing proposals, Adams number of students have said that they feel a Discussions of the proposal are expected said he agreed in principle. Discussions of disconnect between their lives in the classroom to gauge interest among students and faculty “learning communities” occurred at that time, and their lives in the dormitories. It is this and to flesh out more details of how the system and the Strategic Plan for Colby includes an separation that Dialogue Housing would help would operate. Kassman stressed that the Col- initiative to “Integrate students academic, to bridge, Adams said. lege is not seeking a referendum on the proposal residential, and social experiences.” While this is not an issue for all students, but an indication of whether there is sufficient In the fall of 2002 students from underrep- the College has identified a need to provide interest in the Colby community to warrant resented groups called for Colby to implement opportunities to intensify and broaden the moving ahead with the plan. Approval of the multicultural housing, a more specific form of academic experience for students who want to formal proposal would require assent from the specialty housing. That plan was prompted extend their intellectual inquiry even further. Board of Trustees. —Gerry Boyle ’78 22 | COLBY • SPRING 2004 Groundbreaking Set for Alumni Center Costs, Unstable Enrollments End Groundbreaking ceremonies faculty and financial aid resources CBB Abroad Programs for a new 28,000-square-foot to which Colby aspires, Schair alumni and development center, stressed the importance of getting Citing unpredictable enrollments and financial challenges, the the first building in an ambi- the alumni relations and fund- presidents of Colby, Bates and Bowdoin announced in February tious plan to create an entire new raising functions marshaled under that the CBB collaborative study abroad programs in London; campus district around the Colby one roof. To fulfill the ambitious Quito, Ecuador; and Cape Town, South Africa, will end after Green, are scheduled for April vision for Colby’s future, “You the 2004-05 academic year. 17. One of four new buildings have to build a foundation,” he Funded in large part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, proposed in the College’s strate- said, “and this is an essential the program was established in 1999 as a way to balance the ben- gic plan, the $5.7-million center building block.” efits of immersion in a foreign culture and the rigorous academic should be completed for the open- Vice President for College standards that Colby, Bates and Bowdoin faculties expect in their ing of the 2005-06 school year. Relations Richard Ammons, who own courses. Former Colby President William R. Cotter, during While the alumni building will joined Colby’s administration last whose tenure the program was established, said one goal of the provide a welcoming venue near fall, said he was “pleasantly sur- program was to allow for academic continuity both before and the center of campus for alumni prised and impressed” with this after the semester abroad. visits and activities, offices in it commitment to alumni program- Colby operates the CBB-London center, while Bowdoin runs will begin to address a College- ming and to providing appropriate CBB-Cape Town and Bates is responsible for CBB-Quito. With wide office-space crunch. The space for his division. With broad resident directors on site, the centers are partly staffed by a rotat- move of development, alumni experience in development and ing faculty from the three colleges. Colby has had more students relations and communications institutional advancement work at participate in the CBB programs than the other two schools. departments into the new build- other leading colleges and univer- In a joint statement, President William Adams, Bates Presi- ing will start a series of dominos sities, Ammons said he is familiar that will free up space on the main with the challenges of “cobbling dent Elaine Hansen and Bowdoin President Barry Mills said the academic quad for much-needed together good venues for meet- collaboration has been successful in some ways. They noted the faculty offices. ings and for convivial gatherings quality of the programs, the richness of the students’ experiences “It’s a place for alumni to in spaces not created for this.” and the opportunities the centers afford faculty who want to teach gather and to feel part of the The public spaces will serve in different settings and cultures. institution,” said Trustee Douglas students and faculty as well as But enrollments have fluctuated widely and have left the M. Schair ’67, an early advocate alumni, since the large hall facing centers financially unstable. “We have concluded that we cannot for the alumni and development the new Colby Green will be a continue to operate the centers without incurring further oper- center. But the new building has valuable new location for campus ating losses and very substantial administrative burdens,” the important symbolic significance events during the school year. presidents said. beyond its status as the first edi- The large event room will be The three colleges intend to continue to collaborate in the TECTS I fice in the broader construction able to seat up to 150 for meals area of study abroad, a popular option taken by more than two program, he says. and will accommodate larger thirds of Colby students. The presidents said faculty members Looking at the new facilities, crowds with seating arranged for at the three colleges and the Mellon Foundation will consider new programs and strengthened a lecture format.