The administration and students are at it again. This time the issue is the creation of Dante House, a section of Wayne Hall that will house the incoming class of Honors Program students - whether they like it or not. This idea of themed residence halls is expected to grow within the next few years, including Seneca Hall as a building for writers (although no one will be required to live there).
Current Geneseo students, including those in the Honors Program, are not happy about this mandatory themed housing and have been doing all they can to express their objections to the administration and remind them of the failed attempt at math and science housing in Suffolk. However, the general attitude they face is that the changes do not concern them, so the administration is going to continue its plans without their input.
Should current students have a say in policies that will not technically affect them? The answer is yes.
There is a wide variety of students at Geneseo with different backgrounds, majors, opinions and the like, but I think that as Geneseo students the majority of us share some common values, like our investment in our academics, extra-curricular activities and the school itself.
We live, work and play here, and not only do we want future students to experience all the great things Geneseo has to offer, but also some day when we are alumni we want to be proud of our school, what it is now and what it will be then.
If so many students are voicing the opinion that this is not something they would have been OK with as freshmen, why should the administration assume the incoming freshmen will think any differently? And if this policy negatively affects enrollment or publicity, we are the ones who will be holding degrees from a school that has fallen from the top ranks, reminiscing about better days at our alma mater.
Not only are current students being shafted by this concern for future students, but isn't this campus supposed to be promoting diversity? There is more to diversity than skin color or home country. If all of the honors-program students are placed together, they are missing out on the crazy, once-in-a-lifetime experience of living in Jones or Onondaga with a wide variety of other first-year students.
Instead they'll be stuck with other people who are taking the same classes and experiencing the same living situation in Dante House's small community. They need the chance to branch out and try new things, outside of a sheltered environment that too closely mimics high school and home.
For the most part, Geneseo students are smart, and we know what we're talking about. There would not be numerous individuals fighting this idea if there were not something seriously wrong with it. The administration needs to start improving its relations with students, listening to them as intelligent young adults and recognizing their valid opinions. Or maybe we should just build a mud pit on the College Green and solve these problems the old-fashioned way.
Take your pick.
Amanda Senft is a sophomore English major who thinks that living in Dante House for a year would truly be an 'inferno' of lame.