Dartblog

I arrived on campus for the first time on September 12, 2006, move-in day for the class of 2010. Thankfully I had been able to drive myself from Minnesota in my own car because I had successfully petitioned the Dean of First-Year students for permission to have my car on campus as a freshman. I needed the car to drive to a unit in Massachusetts in order to fulfill my reserve obligations to the Army Reserve.

I specifically requested in an addendum on my housing application to not be placed with a roommate who was fresh from high school and only the age of 18. Rooming with another non-traditional student who was older or even having a single on a freshman floor would have been acceptable, but I didn’t want to share a room with such a young and immature person. Imagine my chagrin when I arrived to find my 18-year-old roommate’s mother meticulously arranging his room while patting him on the head and wishing him luck at school.

Now, while my roommate situation wasn’t great, I did enjoy the close ties I developed with my freshman floor and I do believe it would have been a bit harder to create those bonds without some of the programming these floors receive. But I would have been better served by occupying one of the singles on the floor rather than the double I was in. Other Veterans have also had problems with housing. 26-year-old men shouldn’t be told they can’t have a beer and watch some football in the common room by their 20-year-old Undergraduate Advisor — despite alcohol being allowed in common areas for of-age students.

Hopefully President Kim will find it pertinent to allow Veterans, many of whom are much older than other freshmen, to find a housing solution that works well for them rather than taking them completely out of the decision. There is some light on the horizon. A ‘13 veteran reports that he was given a spot on a floor full of transfers and other non-traditional students.

More on veterans at Dartmouth to come!