The Housing Committee will consider a proposal this week to expand substance-free housing to the North Mid-Quads Hall or to an additional segment of Foster-Walker Complex, the Healthy Living Unit’s president said.
Weinberg junior Matthew Turk submitted the proposal Friday, saying that an increased demand for substance-free housing has created a need for additional space. The incoming freshman class included 276 housing applications expressing a preference for substance-free housing, which promotes a healthy lifestyle free from smoking and alcohol, he said.
“I suggested NMQ because it’s a moderate increase in size, with 88 beds. It’s also a co-ed dorm, and there’s been a great deal of interest in substance-free housing on South Campus,” Turk said. “There’s a bigger opportunity for singles and roommates to live together in doubles.”
The Foster-Walker Healthy Living Unit, the only substance-free housing on campus, contains 25 residents who live in two quads and single rooms.
The Healthy Living Unit’s proposal to the Housing Committee asks for expanded space in addition to keeping its space in Foster-Walker, said committee member Courtney Brunsfeld, ASG’s student services vice president.
Brunsfeld said the Housing Committee will not make a decision on the expansion until they receive more information from the Healthy Living Unit.
“There wasn’t really a real decision yet made except to grant housing back,” she said.
Turk said he thinks the proposal will be approved.
“This year we were very open-ended in our requests to the Housing Committee,” he said. “I think that the revamped (housing) application, as well as a changing mindset, are affecting students.”
Turk attributed the increase in demand for substance-free housing to a variety of factors, including a greater number of binge-drinking incidents in dorms.
“The increases came shortly after the alcohol-related deaths at MIT and at (the University of Michigan),” he said. “But I also think there are other factors … it’s mainly just the changing mindsets of students. They’re becoming more academically focused, spiritually focused and socially conscious.”
But Medill freshman Jeff Lee, who has been elected president of NMQ for next year, said it would be a mistake to turn the residence hall into substance-free housing.
“I think it’d be disastrous for NMQ right now. It’s one of the best places to live on campus, and there is a great mix of people here,” Lee said. “I’m not sure what the demand is for substance-free housing, but I don’t see them needing an entire new house.”
Lee said he thinks making NMQ substance free will impact students’ decision to live there next year.
“NMQ is not a freshman dorm like Bobb (Hall) or the Plex,” he said. “There are lots of people here who smoke and drink alcohol, so I think that making NMQ substance free would act as a deterrent for people to come and live here.”
But Weinberg freshman Elisabeth Areson, who lives in Foster-Walker’s Healthy Living Unit, said she sees no reason why substance-free housing shouldn’t be expanded.
“If there’s increased demand for it, I don’t know why people should be denied it,” she said. “If they could make the switch without disrupting the housing system, I don’t see why they shouldn’t.”
Although she did not express a preference for substance-free housing in her housing application, Areson said she has no complaints about living there.
“I do feel the place is less social, but I don’t want to make any generalizations,” she said. “I don’t have any real complaints.”
