By Shira Kramer, Editor-in-Chief
For most college students, living in apartment-style dorms is a dream they are able to accomplish during their years as upperclassmen. They go back to their apartment after class, make some food and sit in their living space watching a movie with their roommates. For students at Stern College for Women, that is a luxury awarded to very few.
This semester, there are five dorm building options for Stern students to choose from: Brookdale, Schottenstein, 251 Lexington, 35th Street and 36th Street. Only one option, 35th Street, is apartment-style dorms. 35th Street is also the smallest and most expensive dorm, making it almost impossible for students to live there even during their senior year.
While dorm buildings like Brookdale and 251 Lexington have options for rooms with kitchens, an effective shared living space is not offered. If students want to eat meals in their rooms, they must eat on their beds or at their desks. Additionally, because there is no space for students to host meals, they cannot live independently while at university, like most students at other schools do.
Part of the college experience is growing up while you’re away at school. If students can’t do adult-like things, such as hosting friends for meals or even cooking for themselves, they are still living lives that are effectively dependent on an institution.
At other universities, it is common for students to either live in apartment-style dorms provided by their school or move off campus to private apartment buildings. For most Stern students who want to live in Midtown Manhattan close to school, private apartments are not a financially realistic option. Sure, they can share a cramped studio apartment with three other girls for a reasonable price, but that would be just as bad as living in the dorms, if not worse.
That is exactly why Stern must provide more apartment-style housing options for students. Last year, the Megantic and 39th Street offered students additional apartment options. However, they were incredibly far from academic buildings, and, because Yeshiva University was only renting the units, there was no security like in other dorm buildings. Starting this year, the university has stopped renting those apartments altogether, so students do not even have these options.
This lack of independence at YU probably contributes to the students’ feelings toward staying in school for Shabbat. For residents of Brookdale, the biggest dorm in Stern, hosting a comfortable Shabbat meal is virtually impossible. Why would anyone want to stay somewhere where they are basically trapped in one big room with no light besides the tiny bathroom for 25 hours?
For out-of-towners, this creates a huge problem. When completing room selection, Residence Life no longer gives upperclassmen or out-of-towners, who stay on campus almost double the amount of time that in-towners do, preferential treatment. With their new first come, first served system, which, according to an email sent out by Residence Life on May 15 “giv[es] students more control of their college experience by empowering them to choose their housing assignments,” students are basically thrown to the wolves when trying to pick their dorm rooms.
As the YU Observer reported last year when this system was first put in place, this new housing selection process has First Time on Campus (FTOC) students picking rooms first, with everyone else given access together on a completely different day. While only upperclassmen are eligible for placement at 35th Street, seniors who have waited years to get a chance to live there pick rooms at the same time as juniors, who will have another chance the following year.
This system provides added stress for students of all class standings and does not provide exceptions for students with disabilities or allergies. Two years ago, before the process changed, students with allergies were given the opportunity to present their concerns to Residence Life and share why they should be placed in certain dorms. Residence Life would then take their messages into account and place them in dorms with full kitchens or other amenities that accommodate their needs. Now, that is not the case, and anyone can be placed anywhere regardless of their needs.
FTOCs choosing their placements first demeans the earned seniority of older students. Previously, it was a right of passage for younger students to be placed on higher floors in Brookdale, while upperclassmen were finally given preferential treatment for lower floors. While it is great that the university is taking strides to make FTOCs more comfortable, they should start by encouraging the dining hall staff to wear gloves while cooking and fixing the elevators so students don’t have to cause fire hazards by cramming into the few that work.
By the time students graduate, they are expected to live on their own or even get married, and yet most have never even cooked a meal for themselves. Adding opportunities for independent living or at least preferential treatment for seniors can help solve this increasingly painful issue.
Photo Caption: Stern College for Women move in
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University