The Problem

An atrocious freshman living situation could really place a damper on the freshman experience. From converting Towers Hall into triple occupancy over the summer, to moving freshmen into upperclassmen housing, and to forcing resident assistant's to share a room with a new freshmen, Drexel's living circumstances were not ideal this year. For the few who were lucky enough to get housing in Van Rensselaer and Race, residential living is slightly better. However, for the vast majority of the incoming class, living on campus can be described as unfortunate. As a resident of Towers Hall, I can personally say that it is evident that Drexel’s solution to overflow housing this year was an after-thought. Since Towers has significantly more people in the building, this situation led to serious logistical problems. These issues vary from maintaining hygiene in the bathrooms, to overworked elevators , to an inadequate laundry center. Although Drexel did take these problems into consideration, the solutions were insufficient for the number of extra people enrolled. Drexel's Student Life and Administrative Services stated that "the fall class of 2011 was the biggest incoming freshmen class the University has seen," which caused overcrowding on campus (Freshman Class Profile). Although the dorms are filled to capacity, Drexel still prides itself on having a great "Freshmen Experience." 

Within each residence hall with first-year students, staff members work to create a comprehensive, diverse experience in which every student has a place to belong, to explore, and to call home. Through weekly events with residents and building-wide gatherings such as Thanksgiving dinners, open mic events, athletic competitions, and movie series, first-year experience resident assistants work to connect students to each other and to the Drexel community in order to help successfully transition freshmen into college. Furthermore, a freshman experience is important to get acquainted with the school and college life and act as a supplemental learning experience. According to the US Office of education, 22% of a school’s fiscal spending goes towards building residence halls, and nearly half of the current university buildings are dedicated to living halls (Clarcq). With such a large student presence on campus, Drexel is trying to supplement the learning process and make the transition to college easier (Drexel University Parent Guide).

This transition is much harder to achieve when students are forced to live with upperclassmen, in an overcrowded building, or even off campus. Overcrowding Towers Hall made it that much harder to transition into college life. As a freshman student living in Towers, I know it is hard to have to share a space with another person, but to have to share a room with two other people was at first extremely unnerving. There is also the fact that there are more people to share limited resources, such as the TV and common room. Moreover, new students who are forced into non-traditional freshmen housing methods feel socially awkward and are isolated from a complete freshman experience. Students would miss out on bonding activities taking place on the floor, floor shenanigans, and the overall floor experience that is essential for incoming students (Politi). Through the new overflow housing plan enacted by Drexel this year, certain freshmen will never have this floor experience; therefore, this is a serious problem that Drexel has to rectify in upcoming years in order to succeed in making the transition into college easier for freshmen.

Living In It

Last school year from 2010-2011, a temporary overflow housing plan was put into action. It was quite similar to the plan that was implemented for this school year. Study lounges were converted to rooms for up to 5 people, and rooms in Towers Hall were converted to rooms for 3 people (Student Life and Administrative Services). However, there was something different about this living situation: it was only temporary. By the end of winter term, residence halls were pretty much back to the way they were before the overflow housing plan was put into action. If the occupants chose to return to the original format, triple occupancy rooms were returned to double occupancy rooms  (many people did not want to change), and the study lounge suites were returned to study lounges that were available for people who lived on the different floors of the building.

When most people think of the overflow housing plan, Towers Hall is highlighted. The supposedly poor and unfortunate kids who have to live with two other people in a room originally only meant for two people to live in were always pitied. According to current sophomore Mikaela Price, many of those people, when given the option, did not want to move out of the triple. As unfortunate as you might think the living situation may be, some people really enjoyed it and did not want to leave the tripled room. Students grew attached to their roommates and learned how to make their living situations work. A current student, who wishes to remain anonymous, does enjoy living in Towers Hall. Unfortunately, she has a different opinion about the room changes. She believes that having three girls in a room originally meant for two can cause problems and bad situations to occur more often. Obviously, the views of Drexel's overflow housing plan are very personalized and diverse.

Outside of Towers Hall, other residence halls were also affected by the overflow housing plan. Mikaela lived in Kelly Hall last year, just like I do now. The rooms are too small in order to fit three people; therefore, they are capped at two people per room. However, on each floor in Kelly Hall there is a study lounge that is shared with another floor. These two-story study lounges were converted to rooms for five people last year. Three of these people lived on the bottom floor of each lounge and two lived on the top floor. Luckily for Mikaela last year, the bedroom lounges were returned to actual study lounges for the floor members after the winter term. She loved living in Kelly Hall and made full use of the study lounge on her floor in order to hang out with her friends and to get work done whenever she needed to get out of her room. As much as I love living in Kelly Hall now, I wish I had access to the study lounge on my floor. I have to admit the rooms are quite nice, but I wish they were open to everyone to use as a study space. Since these lounges were converted to rooms, that only left two study lounges in the building: one in the basement, which mandates 24 hour quiet hours, and one on the ground floor, which gets full often.

According to Mikaela, the overflow housing plan was not bad last year, since it was only temporary. When she worked as an Orientation Leader this past summer, she learned of these plans becoming permanent. She was able to accept last year’s plan because it did not last the entire year. When talking to her about the plan this year, she felt bad for me because I wouldn’t get to experience Kelly Hall in its entirety. If this housing plan maintains for future students, no one will really be able to experience the entirety of the residence halls as they were originally intended when built.

Towers Residential Hall

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 1 shows the new layout of a triple room in Towers. Figure 2 shows the housing application portion where students rank residential halls.  Both figures represent a big change for the incoming freshmen of fall 2011: a third roommate.

Towers Residential Hall Virtual Tour:
http://www.drexel.edu/dbs/universityHousing/residenceHalls/towersHall/~/media/Files/dbs/360-views/towers-hall/res-hall_flash.swf

The Past

            Realizing that an over-crowding situation exists on campus, Drexel University has already completed construction of several new buildings within the past three years. This is not limited to just housing, however. Aside from a new residence hall, construction has already been completed on a new academic building and two vital center-pieces of student life.

            To combat housing concerns, Drexel began work on Millennium Hall, a 17 story, 480 student residence hall located at the Northwest corner of campus. This $42 million building opened in the fall of 2009 for sophomores and currently houses freshman honors students at the university (Student Life and Administrative Services). Construction of this building was crucial to accommodate for future increases in student population.

            In an effort to expand not only the number of academic classrooms, but also the quality of the academic experience, the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building was constructed on the Northeast corner of 33rd and Chestnut streets. The 150,000 square foot, $69 million building houses many academic classrooms and more than 40 laboratories. It is also one of the greenest buildings on campus featuring a multi-story bio-wall that improves air quality and regulates temperature (Student Life and Administrative Services). Addition of new classrooms and laboratories is crucial for diluting class sizes and creating more space on campus.

            Students are not interested in having extra space just in their living and learning environments. Drexel realized this as it expanded upon the recreational and dining aspects on campus. The Daskalakis Athletic Center, located along 34th and Market streets, previously housed basketball courts for the varsity team and a limited workout facility. A new, $42 million recreation center was opened in early 2010, adding over 80,000 square feet of space to the existing facility along Market street. Additions included more exercise equipment space, basketball courts, a three lane running track, a six lane swimming pool, a climbing wall, squash courts, a virtual golf simulator, and a restaurant (Student Life and Administrative Services).

            On the campus dining side, a new dining center opened in the central part of the residential section of campus. The Northside Dining Terrace, opened in 2009, brought 3 chain food franchises and a market to campus. Its convenient location, right in the midst of freshman housing, has made living on campus a more enjoyable experience.

            Quality of social and recreational facilities on campus is as important if not more important than academic and housing space. So long as students are enjoying their out of classroom experience, they will be happier during their stay at the university.

Prior Construction

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 1 depicts Millennium Hall, a residence hall for honors students. Figure 2 shows the new Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building. Figure 3 gives the view of Drexel's newly renovated Recreation Center and Figure 4 shows the inside and outside perspective of Northside Dining Terrace, a recently constructed eatery on campus.

The Present

            Drexel University has already taken action to reduce the feeling of crowding at the university through construction projects that have already been completed, but the university is not quite done yet. Construction has already begun on new academic buildings and a new residence hall/shopping center.

            The three projects currently underway are the new Lebow Business Center, the URBN Center, and the Chestnut Street Project. The Lebow Business Center, a 12 story, $92 million project, will be the new home for the business school. It will include 5 levels of classrooms and countless numbers faculty offices, seminar rooms, and group study rooms. The building will also include two lecture halls of 100 and 300 students (Student Life and Administrative Services). The addition of all of the classrooms and group study areas, on top of just having a new, modern looking building on campus, will dilute class sizes and make the campus more appealing visually.

            The URBN Center is the new home for Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. The former Institute of Scientific Information building is being transformed over the next year to house new studios and design labs. Mad Dragon Records, the student run music label on campus, will also be relocating to this location. Like Lebow, this building will be home to many new faculty offices and classrooms (Student Life and Administrative Services). Moving CoMAD from Nesbitt to the URBN Center not only gives it a new home. The move to the URBN Center also expands the space that CoMAD has to work with and gives students in the college a new home that they can call their own.

            The Chestnut Street Project will bring retail, restaurants, and, most importantly, housing to the campus. “The building design will also include a 19-story residential tower at the corner of Chestnut and 32nd streets…The development includes a 14,800-square-foot community center with space for residence life operations and student amenities that include a social lounge with gaming area, a fitness center furnished with modern workout equipment, meeting space, a theater and laundry facilities” (Student Life and Administrative Services). The apartments solve the immediate housing problems on campus, and the community center solves non-housing related overcrowding problems.        

New Construction

Figure 1

 Figure 2

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Figure 1 shows the new building on Chestnut Street and 33^rd Street after reconstruction. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the front and back view of the new Lebow College of Business building after construction is finished. Both Buildings represent construction projects happening on campus right now. The plans are to renovate older buildings and to create more classroom space as well as residential living space for incoming students.

The Future

            The Drexel Master Plan outlines the future plans for Drexel over a set period of time. The current master plan projects to 2027 and beyond with many attainable goals, but also many that are high reaching. There are plans for new residence halls and academic buildings, but also improvement of spaces on campus.

In the near future (up to 2016), there are plans for a new residence halls in the location of the current Five Star Parking Lot (behind Caneris and University Crossings). As well, there are plans to convert the armory into more of a student life center with study and game areas. Learning terraces at 33^rd and Arch streets and attached to Disque are a part of the plan. The new residence halls handle overcrowding problems. The changes to the armory and creation of the learning terraces create more space on campus for students (Drexel Master Plan).

The distant future (to 2027 and beyond) includes several new residence halls, a replacement for Korman, redevelopment of University City High School, expansion to the air space over the rail yards of 30^th Street Station. All of these additions will be advantageous the university and will be crucial for future generations of students. The future students will benefit from increased campus space, more housing, and up-to-date buildings (Drexel Master Plan).

A Solution

            In the fall 2011 term for freshmen, Drexel dealt with many complaints and unexpected transformations, while also successfully helping freshmen transition and accommodate to the new situations of the year. The current residence hall program at Drexel not only establishes a comforting environment for students, but also incorporates upperclassmen students to help in maintaining this environment. In the fall of 2011 specifically, Drexel had to make changes to provide for an overflow of students: “An overflow housing plan could include the conversion of double-occupancy bedrooms to triple-occupancy bedrooms, the conversion of residence hall lounges to bedrooms and other strategies” (University Housing | Drexel Business Services). Due to the overflow housing situation at Drexel this fall, Drexel had to turn Towers, a traditional two bedroom setting, into a three bedroom setting. Through research performed by David Zimmerman, a scholarly economist, he concluded that “having a roommate in the lowest 15% of the verbal SAT distribution is associated with a reduction in GPA of 0.088 points” (Zimmerman). The additional student in a Towers Hall room was extremely unexpected and could potentially exacerbate Zimmerman’s conclusions; furthermore, many of the incoming freshmen were not aware the change was going to occur until a month before school began. It was initially a surprise and many people had their doubts, but Drexel has successfully transitioned students to the new environment. Although the future effects of the addition of a roommate have yet to be determined, the resident assistants in each building and floor have helped in the transition process: “Through intentional events such as building-wide dinners and floor trips into the city, first-year students begin to feel connected to the campus and city in which they now live” (Students).

            Specifically in Towers, the resident assistants have planned many unique floor bonding activities. One of the most interesting activities was a fourth floor date with the ninth floor. This event involved getting dressed up and going to dinner at Chili’s as a two-floor group. Altogether, the entire experience assisted in creating new bonds and friendships throughout the residence hall. If not for the resident assistant’s help in executing this plan, the students in Towers would not have experienced the bonding activity. The resident assistants at Drexel help “build supportive and educational environments” (Students). Although this is only a single example of a student activity, these small activities end up amounting to more relationships with other students in the building, leading to a better living atmosphere on campus.

            Not only has Towers successfully transitioned students through the overflow housing issues, but other residence halls, such as Millennium, also create better living environments for Drexel students through effective activities. The most recent example of this would be the de-stressor week after midterms. The resident assistants of Millennium planned a week of fun activities for Millennium students to de-stress after finals. These activities included finger-painting, a large Twister game in the lobby, a movie night, and a silly-string your RA night. Altogether, the event not only allowed students to bond with other students, but also allowed students to get to know the resident assistants better. Living in Millennium, which is the main residence hall for honors students, can at times be frustrating because it is difficult to meet people since not everyone is social. Through activities such as de-stressor week, the residence hall assistants and Drexel’s housing program have created a helpful and open environment for all students.

            Although the University has had issues with overflow housing and many students have complained about their living conditions, the efforts Drexel has taken to make the living environment better on campus has been noted. The residence hall program at Drexel has been an influential component of making the transition experience for freshmen much easier and more fun.

Works Cited

Clarcq, J. R. "The Educational Impact of Residence Halls." Improving College and University Teaching 18.1, Graduates and Undergraduates (1970): pp. 44-45. Print.

"Drexel Master Plan." Drexel University, 2012. 26 Feb. 2012.

"Drexel University Parent Guide." University Parent Connection. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.

"Freshman Class Profile." Drexel Admissions. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.

"Google Images." Google. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.

Politi, Daniel. "Universities Face Overcrowding Nationwide." The Eagle Online. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. 

Price, Mikaela. Personal Interview. 27 Feb. 2012.

"Student Life and Administrative Services." Drexel University - Comprehensive, Integrated   Academics Enhanced by Co-operative Education, Technology, and Research Opportunities. Drexel University. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.

Students. "Residential Living | Student Life | Drexel University." Drexel University -Comprehensive, Integrated Academics Enhanced by Co-operative Education, Technology,and Research Opportunities. | Drexel University. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.

"University Housing | Drexel Business Services." Drexel University - Comprehensive, Integrated   Academics Enhanced by Co-operative Education, Technology, and Research Opportunities. Drexel University. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.

Zimmerman, David J. "Peer Effects in Academic Outcomes: Evidence from a Natural Experiment." The review of economics and statistics 85.1 (2003): pp. 9-23. Print.