A
residential master plan for the College, proposing that eight houses be created
on campus, has been prepared by Sasaki Associates, a nationally-known planning
firm.
The
plan, which was presented at campus meetings in late October, calls for the
renovation of Sigma Phi, Psi Upsilon, Chi Psi, and North and South Colleges,
and the construction of a new house adjacent to Richmond House (North and South
would have two houses each). All students would be assigned randomly to
membership in one of the houses, and between 285 and 316 students would
actually live in the eight houses.
Creation
of a house system is a key part of The Plan for Union, a strategic plan that
was approved by the Board of Trustees last spring. The plan envisions a house
system designed to give every student access to a social group and to good social and residential space. All
houses will be expected to contribute intellectual, cultural, and social events to the campus; participate in orienting new
students; sponsor community service
projects; and field teams for intramural competition.
The
Sasaki proposal recommends that Greek and theme groups remain in their current
locations except those displaced by the house system, which would move to Fox, Davidson,
Webster, and College Park.
The
Sasaki firm analyzed all existing residential space and based its house system
recommendation on four criteria – architecturally-embracing character, large
enough to accommodate a “critical mass” membership, small enough to allow the
house membership to function as a recognizable entity, and appropriate
co-curricular space to enhance the living/learning environment.
The
firm looked at options for improving the College's existing residence halls and
concluded that Fox, Davidson, West, and Richmond should be renovated to create
more singles and more social space. The improvements would reduce the capacity
of those buildings, however, and the firm recommended that a new residence hall
be built to continue to meet the College's goal of providing on-campus housing
for 1,700 students (the new residence hall also would be located near
Richmond).
The
Sasaki firm compared Union's residential capacity to seven other colleges
(Amherst, Bowdoin, Colgate, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Trinity, and Williams) and
concluded that, other than the new residential hall to replace beds lost to
renovations, no additional capacity is needed for Union to be considered “fully
residential.”
The
consultant recommended that work on the house
system, including renovations and the construction of a new house,
should begin this summer. The house
system is scheduled to take effect in
the fall of 2004.