University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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Taking a moment to chat with her RA, Xanthe Wigfall pokes her head into RC senior Andrea Pullo ' s room. Pullo, like other seniors, chose to spend her last year at the University in the dorms. photo bv Audra Rowley Writing a paper in her East Quad room, senior RA Andrea Pullo enjoys the conve- nience of the computer pro- vided to her by the University. Resident advisors were provided with a computer as well as room and board. photo by Audra Rowley FOURTH JORDAN Fnint R ) vi Lisa Grup Carissa Br Andrea Ve Ashley Mi! Come, Amy photo by Sharonda Avers FOURTH JORDAN CENTER hen Stefles, W Lee, Nathan Prc rren Strong, Ciabri ' M M B .ir. Melissa Bal FIFTH JORDAN photo by Sharonda Ayers Housing 249

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old faithful Generally, as University students living on campus progressed towards graduation, they moved farther away from conventional campus living arrangements. This year ' s group of seniors mostly lived in apartments or houses with a few of their best friends. However, for some seniors, this was not the case. While their peers avoided standard University housing like the plague, they chose the path of dorm life. Seniors chose to live in residences usually occupied by underclassmen for various reasons. For chemical engineering major and Bursley Hall resident Dawn Abernathy, life in a dormitory was something she wanted to experience, since she had never lived in one until senior year. I went to a community college for the first two years, she said, And when I transferred here I lived in a house. My first year staying in a dorm was my senior year, in Baits. I had never lived in a dorm before, and I wanted to experience dorm life. Alongside the desire to expe- rience dorm life, there were also some very practical aspects for a person in Abernathy ' s position. I ' m in the School of Engi- neering so it ' s convenient, close to classes, and there is a meal by Nathaniel Williams plan, so I don ' t have to prepare my own food. There were some disadvantages to life in Bursley, the greatest of which was, according to Abernathy, a lot of loud eighteen-year-olds. Another North Campus resident, Jacob Balazer, chose Baits, a more specialized dorm largely populated by upperclassmen and graduate students. Although he felt living in a traditional dorm was a worthwhile experience, as a student he preferred his current arrangement. I did not enjoy the social atmosphere of the dorms, he said. I came from South Quad, and it was very loud. In Baits, I am not on a hallway with other people. Balazer also liked Baits for aesthetic reasons. It ' s in a nice setting, with all the nature and the trees, he commented. It was hard for Balazer to come up with many disadvantages to his housing situation, but he did point out a couple of problems. Com- pared to off-campus housing, the rooms aren ' t as large, and it is expensive. This year ' s dorm-dwelling seniors proved that living ar- rangements were not a function of class standing. Rather, they were merely based on the preferences of each individual. FIRST JORDAN SECOND JORDAN SanMsky. B rfan Liu. 1 n.in.fll fcamin Kurtz, Sarah | 2: Michael Wisr THIRD JORDAN Rebecca ( Natalia Kalaida, Leah Marsh, Anne Nagrant, Sarah 1 Wu, Dwana Mitchell photo by Sharonda Ayers ,

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Preparing to bob for condoms, East Quad residents receive their in- structions from a represen- tative of the Safe Sex Store. Condomania was just one of the many programs spon- sored by RHA. Students left the event with pockets filled with prophylactics, and minds filled with useful in- formation. photo by Audra Rowley a little different Condoms. Games. Condoms. Food. Condoms. Fun. And yes, more condoms! Stuck in the mailboxes of East Quad residents, it was just a square of paper advertising the dorm ' s Condomania event. Yet it also seemed to advertise the entire spirit of East Quad: an attitude of independence. Growing out of the 1960 ' s counterculture, the Residential College set its home in East Quad and its mission as a place for students to live, learn, and explore academia in unobstructed forms. Since then, East Quad was known as a place that reflected individualism. Residential College students recognized that openness. There ' s a better mix of people here. People are more open to what everybody else is doing. There ' s such an open feeling of commu- nity that you can go door-to-door within East Quad and find someone to hang out with, and that ' s not something you could necessarily do in other dorms, said first-year RC student Frances Reade. Other students saw the small atmosphere of the RC as advan- tageous, because the same people in the classrooms were the same people in the hallways of the dorm. It ' s easier when you ' re in the hallways and you see the same by Caelan Jordan people from your classes. You know them, so everyone is moi open and more social, said sophomore RC student Rya Hutchinson. Plus, our professors have their offices in the bulk ing, so it ' s really easy to track them down. To match the residents ' free attitudes, the dorm sponsorc many activities, such as Condomania, craft nights teaching how i make Dream Catchers, and various academic lectures. In partici lar, the dorm ' s snack bar, called The Halfway Inn and common referred to as The Half-Ass, was a forum of individualism rigl in the East Quad basement. Although the RC maintained a two-year live-in requirement fi students in order to forge a sense of community, some studen were tired of East Quad and the RC system by their second yea I ' m just waiting to drop out. I was just too lazy to look for ; apartment, but now I ' m bored with East Quad, said sophomo RC student Kathleen Belanger. While the RC certainly was not for everyone, many studen enjoyed the atmosphere of East Quad. It certainly proved adva tageous when winter rolled around. As Reade said, You can ' t s East Quad isn ' t a great place if you don ' t know how nice it is never have to go out in the snow.