Last week I attended Professor Blalock’s talk on the history of West Campus. He gave an excellent synopsis of the impetus and reasoning behind expanding West Campus to what it is today. Although the gothic’s are quite old, the Houses were conceived of around 20 years ago, when the university decided to expanding their current offerings to compete with the amenities of other schools. The idea was to create intellectual residential communities, and one of the components was a live-in House Professor. Personally I think that this is critical to such a community: both last year when I lived in CKB and this year in Rose House, I’ve attended several events hosted by the live-in professor; events that wouldn’t have existed otherwise.

Professor Blalock also took us into several lesser known areas in the houses; the most striking of which was the War Memorial in the north tower. It’s an absolutely gorgeous room rich in symbolism. It reminded me of how rich and varied this campus is, and how much of it I probably won’t get to see while I’m a student here. Going to Rose Scholar events regularly has really given me an extra dimension into what is hidden here on campus.