I was excited to take a tour of West Campus and learn more about the history because the history of West Campus, in a way, is a part of the history of my family. I’m the third generation of my family to live on West Campus and each generation experienced something almost entirely different. In the early 1950s my grandpa lived on West Campus in what’s called a Quonset Hut. As the name implies, these huts were not luxurious. Luckily, when my mom lived on West Campus she got to live in the relatively luxurious University Halls. From what Professor Blalock said about the U-Halls they were only luxurious in comparison to the huts of 1950s West Campus. Somewhere in the middle my aunt lived in one of the gothics. As a family we have it all covered.

My favorite part of the tour was to hear a new perspective on the evolution of West Campus. The current iteration definitely seems more thoroughly plan than previous iterations. Instead of just a place to sleep, West Campus is now a place to do much more. It was interesting to hear about how Cornell built upon the residential college system of other universities and made something similar, yet distinctive. This system has succeeded to create community between members of the same house, but not create barriers between residents of different houses.

I was also interested in the tunnel system that connects some of the houses together. I’ve spent some time in the U.S. Capital where a network of tunnels keeps Congressional Representatives out of the Washington summer heat as they journey to vote. In Ithaca, heat is not the issue, but rather the cold. I wondered how a pedestrian tunnel system would change the dynamics of West Campus in the winter time.

It will be interesting to see what the next generation of West Campus will bring. However, I feel that whether it’s a hut, a U-Hall, or a gorgeous modern dorm the people inside the building matter much more than the buildings themselves.