In addition to Hyde Hall, the bottom two floors of Coleman Hall have also been designated chem-free this year. According to Operations Manager for Residential Life Lisa Rendall, the change is an attempt on the part of the Residential Life Office to accommodate the 18 percent of the class of 2012 that requested chem-free housing for this year, up slightly from 17 percent last year.
"Given the low demand for quiet housing and discussions with residents of Moore Hall last year, we did not offer quiet housing again this year," Rendall wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "We essentially had the same number of requests for chem-free again this year. Coleman Hall was chosen as an additional chem-free location due to its proximity to Hyde Hall."
According to Associate Director of Residential Life Erica Ostermann, the use of additional floors to house chem-free students in conjunction with Hyde has been done in the past and simply depends on the demand for chem-free housing in any given year.
One significant choice that Residential Life Office made was to have all of Coleman remain affiliated with MacMillan House, despite the fact that MacMiillan is not a chem-free college house like Howell.
"We didn't want to take two-fifths of Mac's affiliates away by affiliating them with Howell, because that could reduce attendance to Mac's events," said Ostermann. "We have made it clear, however, that the chem-free students in Coleman can choose to become affiliated with Howell if they really want to, and a few students have already done so."
President of MacMillan House Erin McAuliffe '11, has made a point of ensuring that her house recognizes that chem-free students in Coleman are still "very much Mac affiliates."
"We are not having any fewer non-chem-free events but we are adding more chem-free events," said McAuliffe. She also mentioned that affiliates have spent time cooking dinner in MacMillan's kitchen, watching TV in its common room and attending events such as BBQs and songwriting workshops hosted by the house. McAuliffe noted that the presence of non-chem-free students at Mac events makes the house "confident that the year will go smoothly" in terms of uniting non-chem-free and chem-free students within Coleman.
Coleman first floor proctor Shalmai Rivera '10 said MacMillan and Howell have done an exceptional job including the bottom floors of Coleman in all of their events.
"Howell and Mac have gone out of their way to make sure the chem-free kids in Coleman are comfortable," Rivera said. "I know a few of the kids on my floor have been to both Mac and Howell events, and some of them went to Mac's affiliate-only party at the beginning of the year and felt very welcome."
Although she agrees that the set-up has run well thus far, McAuliffe recommends that ResLife consider a different solution in the future.
"We are lucky that we have open-minded kids in Coleman who are willing to come to Mac's non-chem-free events and still have a good time, but I think that for the future ResLife might be better suited to either do away with chem-free living completely or to keep it all in one dorm," McAuliffe said.
When asked about the implications of offering chem-free housing for first years, Ostermann responded that the College understands the statement it is making by providing the choice. According to Ostermann, Bowdoin has worked toward achieving the balance between safety and upholding college policy, a balance to which "the student body at large has been very responsive and responsible," in trying to uphold.
"We're not going to stick our head in the sand and pretend that there's not drinking on campus, even among the freshman," said Ostermann. "Instead, the administration is being very honest about the situation and giving as much support as possible to those students who really hope to adhere to a chem-free lifestyle."
Coleman Head Proctor Tommy Wilcox '09 said he made a point of "keeping the alcohol policy the same throughout the dorm so as not to ostracize the bottom two floors simply because they are chem-free."
Wilcox said the dorm-wide policy is that if alcohol is seen in the hallways, it will be poured out.
"We mostly draw a distinction within the individual rooms," Wilcox said. "If we find alcohol in a room on the chem-free floor we're going to be much stricter because their roommate contracts specifically say that there will be no alcohol in the living spaces, whereas the contracts do not specify that for the top three floors."
President of Howell House Rebecca Schouvieller '10 said that she felt the division within Coleman would be difficult for chem-free students living in a dorm with non-chem-free students.
"Chem-free dorms tend to form a very welcoming and close community, which was the best part for me about living in West my freshman year," Schouvieller said. "I don't know if that can be replicated in Coleman, because I feel like there is probably some discomfort on both sides.
Second floor Coleman resident Jade Hopkins has not noticed any discomfort due to the set-up.
"My roommates hang out with a lot of kids on the first floor, so they're in our room a lot," said Hopkins. "I don't think the chem-free set-up is affecting whether or not kids on lowers floors socialize with upper floors."
Third floor Coleman resident Hannah Cyrus said her room decided to be chem-free this year even though she and her roommates did not originally indicate that they desired chem-free housing.
"We all agreed that we wanted our room to be chem-free, and it's been great so far," Cyrus said. "I think the only thing keeping upper and lower floors from hanging out is that they're so far apart!"