A disagreement between a group of students and the administration has severely diluted a plan for cooperative living next year.
For over a year and a half a group of students led by sophomores Katherine Kirklin, Ruth Morrison, and Mike Taylor have been working closely with the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs and The Office of Residential Life to implement their proposal for a cooperative living space in Burnett House. For Morrison and Kirklin, after more than a year of compromise and continuous dialogue, the latest round of decisions has been the most difficult for the group to accept and overcome.
"Starting a few weeks ago, anonymous figures began passing down decisions," Morrison said. "From the first day we knew we were making compromise. We've had to go through many levels of bureaucracy. But, the bottom line is we've been pushed back piece by piece. It really feels disrespectful."
Senior administration officials have cited a variety of reasons for their reluctance to fully support the co-op's original proposals. Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley said there have been two major issues regarding the implementation of the co-op.
The first issue is the question of what constitutes "theme" housing.
"The College made a clear decision in 1997 when the Commission on Residential Life Report was unanimously approved by the Trustees that we will not have theme or affinity-based housing at Bowdoin," Bradley said. "This philosophy and policy is clear, which is why the co-op organizers were not able to 'get' a house outside of the established block-lottery process."
"I would not describe a group of students who choose to block together in the housing lottery and who get a space through the lottery as a 'theme house,'" he said.
The "theme" housing question remains an open one for Interim Director of Residential Life Kim Pacelli, who believes that the students have so far been able to work within the framework of the report.
"I haven't made up my mind about this question yet. When I first heard about the idea, I asked that same question. When I read the proposal that the co-op students put forward, I was impressed with their rationale of how this could theoretically fit within the Commission on Residential Life Report," she said.
The second major obstacle has been the group's proposal to cook four meals together each week, in place of using the College's dining service.
"While the Dining Service is prepared to do a board transfer once a week for the students participating.... More than once a week was not feasible. It is also not feasible due to the State Fire Code for these large-group meals to be prepared in the comparatively small Burnett kitchen, which is why the Ladd kitchen will be used," Bradley said.
According to Dining and Bookstore Services Director Mary Lou Kennedy, while it is not policy, traditionally groups have only been able to get one meal a week transferred.
"Part of the original plan was four meals a week. We've limited all meal transfers to one a week. It's really important that we follow the same procedure for all students," Kennedy said.
Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer S. Catherine Longley, who oversees the College's dining and facilities divisions, was not available for an interview.
Kirklin, Morrison, and Taylor said that as members of a community committed to promoting the Common Good, this experience has been disheartening. For Taylor, the proposed co-op embodies many of Bowdoin's principles.
"I think the ideals of a co-op house are more in line with what this college claims to be all about than anyone is willing to admit. It's different and people are afraid of change. But this isn't just a whimsical notion?it's progress and we are already well behind hundreds of other colleges and universities that promote the co-op lifestyle," he said.
Kirklin concurs, believing that "the ideology has become so divorced from the practice that it's become administratively impossible to fuse them; genuine attempts by students to do this are perceived as so problematic that the administration would rather you just not try."
Kirklin also reported that ten of the original 18 students dedicated to co-op living will live in Burnett House in the fall. They and others will gather for one meal a week at Ladd House and reattempt the full plan next year.