Residents of Hobart House are used to the question: “Why live in a small, all-girls dorm?”
For Medill freshman Jennie Walters, it’s comfort. She grew up with three sisters and likes the idea of going home to a male-free environment.
For SESP junior Tasha Richardson, it’s safety. She likes the security of the tight knit community.
For Medill sophomore Noreen Nasir, it’s the noise level. Instead of hearing rap music and drunken revelry on Thursday nights, she’s more likely to hear classical music coming from the room down the hall.
The 30-some women who live in the Women’s Residential College recognize that their college experiences are different than those of their peers, and maybe not always for the better. But despite its flaws, residents continue to come back because, for lack of a better word, it’s home.
The dorm, along with Rogers House, opened in 1928 to provide non-sorority housing in the Sorority Quads.
“In high school, there’s not a lot of gender separation, so I didn’t imagine how it would be being around only girls,” said Richardson. “In classes you meet different friends, but a lot of people make their closest friends based on who they lived with.”
Unlike Bobb Hall or Allison Hall, where girls often see guys in shower towels, the presence of a man in Hobart needs to be announced. Whenever a male enters the building, residents are required to shout “man on the floor.”
This has unique consequences for Nasir, who chooses to follow traditional Muslim dress code and wear a headscarf, or hijab, when men are present. “For that reason, (Hobart) is just a little bit more convenient,” Nasir said. “It’s easier if you don’t have to wear your headscarf every time you go out of your room.”
Of the women living in Hobart, seven wear headscarves.
“It’s not like we roam around all the time without our headscarves, but when I’m on my floor, I usually don’t have it on.” Nasir said.
The girls-only environment causes some men to shy away, and Nasir said she does not spend a lot of time at the dorm. Still, it works, she said.
The secluded environment gives residents an element of freedom, according to Richardson. But she too sees both strengths and weaknesses to Hobart’s limited community.
“It’s a smaller group of people, so you do build a close relationship with fewer people,” she said. “I guess that’s good in a way, but it’s limiting.”
Nasir considered moving to a different dorm after her freshman year because she felt like she was missing out on “the real college experience.”
“People are maybe just a little more reserved,” Nasir said.
But at least for Walters, there’s a certain charm to a dorm where her biggest complaint is too much hair clogging up the shower drain.
“It’s kind of like home,” Walters said.
