Last Wednesday I attended the Rose Café for History and Secrets of West Campus. I was really excited for this event because I feel like a lot of the ideology behind the creation of west campus has gone over my head, and this was a good learning opportunity. I’m definitely very glad that I came to this event.

As a transfer student, coming to Cornell and being placed on West Campus without any sort of primer was very confusing. While I’m extremely grateful that I’m here, there was a definite period of disorientation. Returning freshmen have the benefit of attending different information sessions to learn about West, but we transfers did not. I vividly remember reading out my housing assignment to my mom this past summer and she responded by asking, “Wait, so you’re going to be living in a house?” There wasn’t really anyone who reached out to touch base and explain what the system was and why it was set up ten years or so ago, so I mostly just assumed it was set up like my freshman dorm system at the school I transferred from—a loosely affiliated set of buildings with the same administrative team watching over them. Since then I’ve learned a lot and have grown to be extremely grateful for the community Rose House provides, but there definitely was a learning curve.

This event really helped bring to light a lot more of the intricacies of the house system. More specifically the layout; I had no idea that the gothics were designated historical landmarks, which presented significant complications during the construction of the rest of the main buildings. Additionally, it was interesting to finally learn the truth about Quill and Dagger. From the day I arrived on campus, people were spinning tales about an elusive secret society that owned one of the towers by Baker Flagpole, but nobody seemed to know any more details than that. It’s nice to have an answer. In all, This event genuinely helped me understand the motivations behind the creation of the house system, and the role it plays in the greater Cornell community.