October 24, 2007

The Margin
A case for off campus housing

Tom Kingston l contributing columnist
tkingston@smcvt.edu

The 100 percent residential policy disallows people from living off campus.

This is a great marketing tool.

When high schoolers and their parents are touring campus, it is normal for them to have some apprehension knowing that Ryan and Rebecca will soon be living away from home. The faculty is impressive, the buildings are elegant, and the whole campus has the je ne sais quoi of a summer camp. These people are comforted when they are told about our 100 percent residential policy. It makes St. Mike’s much more appealing than other colleges that expect juniors and seniors to live off campus.

What Ryan, Rebecca and their parents are not thinking about is that 21-year-olds are in a completely different life stage than the 17-year-olds who are still deciding what college to go to. (Several British Prime Ministers were first elected as Members of Parliament when they were 21.)

Residential programming is excellent for new students. Eighteen-year-old boys from Boston who play hockey can go to an ice cream social on their floor and meet 18-year-old boys from Boston who like to ride skateboards. To upperclassmen, the residential programming is infantile. They don’t go, but the current system puts a lot of them in the residence halls.

It is good for the college to provide 100 percent housing certainty to those who want it. The students who prefer to live off campus are usually highly mature and don’t need campus programming.

Bryan Barletto and I arrived at St. Michael's College in the fall of 1999. He was a new student embarking on a college career. I came as a custodian. Bryan’s persona is that of a plain and quiet person. But really, he is highly intelligent, absorptive and resourceful.

The student-athlete concept is sometimes touted. Occasionally we come across people who excel in both. Bryan Barletto is the exemplar. He was co-captain of the lacrosse team, along with Brian Duffy, whose older brother Christopher is remembered by the Duffy Turf Field.

In addition to his student-athlete obligations, Bryan worked downtown in a restaurant kitchen. He lived off campus with his friends, Ellen Bogdanovich, Anthony Giovanone, and Anthony’s sister who was a student at Champlain College. Already we are starting to see some possibilities that just can’t happen with our current policy.

After graduation, Bryan took a job at a district court in Maryland for a year and then decided to go to law school. He will receive the results of his bar exam on Nov. 2. Ellen and Bryan are now married. Mrs. Barletto is a master's degree candidate at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Barletto is embarking on his career as an attorney in the Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps, stationed in Washington, D.C.

Agatha Kessler is another St. Michel’s College outstanding citizen who graduated in 2004, the first year we were affiliated with the Phi Beta Kappa Society to which Agatha was inducted. Agatha also lived off campus with friends and was a member of the Snowboarding Club.

There are many more superior people who opted to live off campus for a variety of reasons.

In the Sept. 5 edition of The Echo, Jon Ketchum reported:

“The quad, Samara says, especially needs to be reevaluated, with 200 students packing each building. Eventually, he says he would like to house no more than 150 students in each building, providing space for much-needed amenities in and around campus.

“The quads are just too packed,” Samara says. “I would like to one day see more common spaces or lounges for students living in those buildings.”

Last summer, to meet current housing needs, student lounges in the quad were converted into dorm rooms. Allowing off-campus housing will provide opportunities for those who are ready for it while eliminating the need to pack so many students into the quad. Twenty-one-year-old students need to be regarded as people who someday may become world leaders.