Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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renovations. Veteran alumni, who like jim Alexander '78 recall their days in Venable Cand Cush- ingj as a Spartan existence you hated every minute of, but wouldn't trade the memories of for the world, will ask why Venable even needs renovation. If it was good enough for their genera- tion, isn't it good enough for a new one? The answer, of course, is that even if the new students are as tough as their elders, Venable and Cushing are not. Both dorms celebrate their one-hundred-sixtieth birthday this year, Cushing was begim in 1824 as a replacement for all the college buildings of 1775-1803, and Venable as the home of Union Theologi- cal Seminary. Venable and Cushing have survived almost two hundred years-despite the fact that they were heated with fireplaces and open fires built by students, and that there was once gas lighting in OPENING them, and that teenaged men have never, even in golden ages, been easy on their sur- roundings, but the sheer tenacity with which they sur- vived is beginning to give out. There has never been any major renovation, and main- tainance on any scale grander than emergency consevation has been put'off too long, because, even if there had been extra funds to pay for it, there was no place to put the men who lived there. But now new residence halls are under construction, with rooms into which all the men in Venable-and later all the men in Cushing-can be moved to allow restoration of the historic buildings flike many other buildings at Hampden-Sydney, they are registered National Historic Landmarksj. The first order of business in the restoration of both dorms is to preserve both their architecture as well as their ethos-the almost per- sonal quality residents remember most about the place-while achieving such goals as fire-proofing Cespe- cially in staircasesj, re-wiring, boosting energy efficiency, and fhere the veterans will really groanj installing bathrooms on every floor. None of these buildings would even to come up to fire or building codes nowadays, said Todd Schill, associate dean of students, something has got to be done. But compliance with codes isnit the only reason for re- novating the residence halls, says Robert H. jones, dean of admissions. When prospec- tive students visit the campus, they are bowled over by how pretty it is, until they see Venable and Cushing, and then they think twice. They ask the men who live there how they stand it, and I don't think they really believe them when they say it's fun in its own way. The college-age population is steadily declin- ing nationwide, especially so in the areas from which we Pavems, faculty, administrators, and students draw most of our Students' mix on the lawn of Graham Hall.

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1985 KALEIDOSCOPE The First Days Tl1at's Wfhere l'm Living..? You're standing in this long familiar...? line of largely unfamiliar Those freshmen blues - faces, signing checks for S200 anticipating NEW dorms, here, S10 there, another S10 finding OLD dorms. Antici- for a gun deposit. Finally, pating food for dinner, getting someone hands you a Har- Commons. Anticipating a dee's card good for a free roommate with a BMW and drink and you're on your way a ski rack, meeting a room- to your new room and mate with a Schwinn three- roommatefsj. Sound pretty speed. Boy, those first few days were real interesting. But then the friends form and a lot of that crap in those beautiful admissions publica- tions cloes happen. Maybe these are the best friends you'll ever have. Maybe you will be challenged here. Maybe the new dorms will open in 1984 .... Z2 Nam Numan On a day that should have been bottled and kept for Homecoming, the class of 1988 arrived at Hampden- Sydney, with cars and station wagons stuffed and spirits high. Both sides of Cushing Road and Via Sacra sparkled with chrome and maroon and navy blue and cream as tail- gates and doors opened and dGa 'rd ksi . wma. .1 mwes th-rough Oflm Orientation The Arrival A Surprise Greets Many Old and New Men shut, as students and parents and sisters and brothers lifted and shoved and carried part of someone's life from one world into another. About half of them moved into Venable Hall, where freshmen have lived for as long as memory serves most of us. But-and here is the difference between this and Plbn previous first days of school on the Hill-they weren't supposed to have moved into Venable. Last year's freshmen were supposed to have been the last students staying in Venable for a while, since Venable had been scheduled to stand vacant this year, pending the beginning of an extensive series of III

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So having top-notch resi- dence halls is absolutely necessary if we are to keep on getting record numbers of qualified applicants. Having sub-standard dorms will only make matters worse by driv- ing away students who might otherwise come to the College. A second motive for reno- vating the dorms is upgrading the students' social life, explains Schill. We have dormitories that are in the process of becoming resi- dence halls, he said. Tradi- tionally 'dormitories' were places for people to sleep, period. 'Residence halls,' by contrast, are designed to meet broader objectives of college student housing. We are aim- ing to heighten the educational aspects of communal living by giving our men more opportunities for individual growth, by developing an interpersonal environment that demands responsible citi- zenship and concern while 1 985 KALEIDOSCOPE and by establishing guidelines that provide structure for compatible and cooperative community living. We want to recognize the needs of the total student in his living experience: his health, aes- thetic awareness, moral depth, intellectual eagerness, and interpersonal skills. There was a final irony in the move into Venable this fall: freshmen were not the only moving in. When stu- dents signed up for room assignments last spring, some had opted to take the chance that some of the rooms in the new residence halls would be completed this fall. They arrived at Hampden-Sydney to find out that they were going to be living in Venable instead. CHampden-Sydney trivia buffs recalled that much the same thing happened in 1775: students arrived for the opening of classes to find the main building unfinishedg the president allowed their par- ents to build cottages around the campus for them to live in instead.J Even the thought of a rebate of the difference in room rent-about S400- did not assuage the grum- blings of upperclassmen who thought they had seen Vena- ble for the last time. But just wait till we get the place fixed up, said Schill. They'll be fighting one another to get back in. fclockwise from topj Matt Eversmann listens to his first talk from his RA. President Bunting cmwerses with john Ca1'uso's parents being conducive to learning, M 0147-ice eCUa6'CS'l1man 5,44 v-'fag'