New Face, New Place - aq November 2004


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New Face, New Place

by Christine Hearn
Photograpy by Greg Ehlers

Traditional residences are back in style again.

Film student Andy Gavel is 17 and has just moved into his room in SFU's new eight-storey residence buildings. Thirty-four years ago in 1967 his dad, Lee, now the university's director of campus planning and development, moved into a room in the new Shell House. From his dorm window Andy can look across at Louis Riel House, where his dad later lived in the early 70s.

The living experiences of Andy and Lee in many ways sum up the shifts in style that university residences have undergone in the last 40 years. Student housing has gone full circle from the traditional all-male Shell House and the all-female Madge Hogarth House, to the apartments in Louis Riel, and back to the traditional, although now co-ed, new residences.

"We were building apartments for the last 20 years because we thought students wanted apartments," says Jan Fialkowski, director of residence and housing. "But we found that's not what they want and need. They need traditional dorms, and to our surprise we found they want a dining hall with meal plans. So that's what we gave them."

Living in residence has tremendous advantages according to the experts. "We know from research that students who live in residences have higher grade point averages, complete their degrees faster, and adjust better," says Fialkowski. This is because all the support systems are in place, because students in residence make lifelong friends, and, all in all, have better university experiences. There are more than 400 activities in the fall semester for residence students as they learn how to get along in a dense population.

“My parents thought
it would be a very good idea for me to gain some independence
and live on my own.”
.

Andy, who graduated from Sutherland Secondary in North Vancouver, chose to live in residence partly because his dad and his older brother, now a third-year kinesiology student and residence floor counsellor, had fantastic times in SFU's residences, but also because he wants to immerse himself in the university and meet different people. "For a lot of my friends who aren't in residence, school is on the side and they just go on with their regular lives and don't get much out of the experience," he explains. "Being in residence puts you into the university completely. This is an experience that will last a lifetime."

Andy is also aware it is time to loosen some of the ties to his parents. "My parents thought it would be a very good idea for me to gain some independence and live on my own. They thought it would be good for me to get away from my sheltered lifestyle."

Lee agrees: "It feels good in a lot of ways, very déjà vu - knowing what I did and shouldn't have done when I was in residence. But both their mother and I strongly agree that kids need the social development that comes from living on their own. We're close enough to do their laundry and provide the occasional home-cooked meal. They feel quite independent, and it's good for us too."

“ During the summer many
of the regular residence
rooms will be rented out
for conferences ...”
.

Lee's best memories of residence are the people: "I made lasting friendships; they are people I can count on, and people I still see," he says. Andy is busy making new friends too: "I went to orientation to meet people because I already knew the campus and it was a really fun experience! They put us into different groups so I met lots of people from out of town and took some of them on tours of the city."

There's also a strong international component to living in residence. On Andy's floor there are students from Ireland, Holland, Norway, and other countries, and Andy is looking forward to being exposed to different cultures. That is all part of the university's plan to turn out global citizens, says Fialkowski. "Students in residence learn to get along with all sorts of different people and find themselves exposed to many experiences they wouldn't otherwise have," she says.

The new residences, which are just for first-year students, crown one of the higher points of Burnaby Mountain and have stunning views from the top floors. The two buildings that opened in September provide accommodation for 478 students. A third building will open in the spring. Together the three structures will expand university residence capacity by more than 40 percent. In total there is now room for 1,600 students on campus; if you include family members of students in the family-oriented units, that creates a nucleus of nearly 2,000 residents on campus.

The new rooms are traditional dorm style. Andy's room is concrete and cream with a black floor. He has personalized it with his collection of model cars and a grey-and-white bedspread; he plans to buy some movie posters to further liven up the walls. All rooms have built-in shelves, a desk, a closet, an extra-long bed, high-speed internet access, and a phone. Washrooms are shared.

The new residences are traditional,
in response to student demand.
.

Common rooms have microwaves and TVs and are places for students to hang out and get to know each other. Another gathering place is the 300-seat dining hall. All students in the new residences must buy into the meal plan.

In addition to the single dorm rooms now open, there are 14 hotel rooms on top of the residences. They are being marketed to visiting faculty, parents, VIPs, and anyone else wanting to stay on campus for a few days. The hotel rooms are comparable to local hotels with full amenities, including queen-size beds, duvets, DVDs, and high-speed internet connections. The university is aiming for 75 percent occupancy year-round with revenues used to subsidize residence fees. During the summer many of the regular residence rooms will be rented out for conferences and that revenue will also be plowed back into quality of life for the students.

It's the start of a growing community with room for everyone from the young first-year students in the new buildings to the families - sometimes three generations - in the Louis Riel apartments. Thirty-seven years from now perhaps a young man or woman will look out a new building's window at today's residences and think about a father or mother who was one of the first students to live there. aq

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