As I reach the close of my second year in the Rose Scholars program, I found tonight’s Rose café a great opportunity to reflect on the changes I have seen in the program and the ways it could develop in the future. I liked the fact that Dr. Hill opened our discussion with a brief history of the program so that we could see how recent changes fit into the program’s overall history. For instance, I was surprised to learn that the Rose café had only begun to be held in the library room last year and that moving it into the House Professor’s apartment was a return to its original setup. Personally, I have really appreciated this change in location because I like the more intimate atmosphere and because I feel that the restrictions on the café’s size have led to a noticeable increase in attendance at non-café events in the past semester.
After we discussed specifics of the Rose Scholar program, the conversation expanded to cover the overall problems with establishing permanent house cultures on West given the huge student turnover each year. This issue resonated with me since, although I am a rising senior who will be living at Rose for my third year, I would struggle to define what makes life at Rose different from any of the other houses on West. I thought many people tonight made insightful suggestions on ways in which these distinct cultures could be established, such as having inter-house competitions or having each house “adopt” a freshman dorm on North to provide a continuity between freshman and sophomore years. Dr. Hill explained, however, that the current general lottery system and the housing shortage make it impossible for freshmen to self-select houses, so any real solution to this issue will have to involve major changes to the existing system.
I didn’t know that Rose Cafe had only been offered in the library starting last year, but to be honest, I preferred it that way. I understand that decreasing the available seats causes increased involvement in other activities, but it also in turn decreases the involvement of non-Rose scholars who don’t want to take up a seat from someone who might need it to fulfill a requirement. Also, I think the combination with Becker House for a period of time last year also increased the chance that people would participate in conversations, but I understand the want to try out other ways of running things. This being said, I haven’t attended any Rose Cafes since the change was implemented solely because many times, I don’t know my Wednesday evening schedule until Wednesday evening, so I don’t feel comfortable signing up for something I may have to miss.
I think adopting a north campus dorm is an interesting idea, but I definitely agree that the housing lottery doesn’t make choosing your first choice west campus dorm a possibility. I know for example Bethe and Balch take a joint trip to NYC, so maybe adding small things just to mingle north and west campus a bit more is doable. Also, freshmen are randomly placed in dorms and often want to room with friends from other dorms the following year, so creating restrictions is probably not the best solution.