Move-in day, one of the most chaotic days of your first-year. Everyone around you is probably just as confused of where things are located, how they are going to get their things upstairs, and everything in between. There are few people to take you under their wing, give you reasonable advice, and tell you the ins and outs of your first few days as a Guilford student. Guilford housing has changed over time. The newest change is being able to have co-ed suites in Bryan.

But what has not changed is first-year-only housing. Housing is separated by sex and year, and separating by sex alone would be fine for most. The separation of sexes between dorms is done by choice. Some persons do not like having to walk down a hallway to go shower where they know the opposite sex could be waiting right outside. But what about the year segregation? Yes, as a first-year it was nice to be able to meet fellow first-years. However, I met few upperclassmen until my second semester when my class options grew. There was no one to help guide me with the ins and outs of Guilford. No one to show me where the swings were, or to explain where or what the Graffiti wall was. It was like I jumped into a pool and was forced to doggy-paddle until I figured out how to swim. But how do we solve this? The housing process is done by lottery for everyone but first-years. The biggest change would be adding first-years to the lottery. A tedious task perhaps, but one that could give them the ability to pick where they want to live based on location of the building. There are worries that with integration between classes, first-year students would have more access to alcohol. However, to solve this, there could be dry halls/floors. It would not have to be the whole building; and it could be monitored more regularly than other halls/floors because they will be extra specified. Students already have plenty of ways to acquire alcohol through fellow teammates, clubs, and people they meet in classes. Drinking would be unlikely to increase or change if housing was changed. First-years would be able to get to know upperclassmen, and have a chance to pick their favorite building. This chance would give them further opportunity to decide where they, and students alike, wanted to live over the rest of their Guilford experience. As a sophomore, I can not live in Milner or Binford, even though I believe Milner is a great dorm, in a great location. I have no chance of living there unless I become an RA. Bryan seemed like a pretty logical choice, as it seemed like a difficult task to even attempt at applying for the Old or New Apartments. If Guilford opened up the door to allowing first-years and upperclassmen to live in the same building together, there would be more community bonding and growth. Students would not only get to know fellow classmates from their own year, but would continually meet students from all years as their college experience progressed. Particularly, it may even increase the retention rate of students returning to Guilford.

Earlham College recently switched from all-year housing to dedicated housing for first-years while others were allowed to mingle between years.

Their reasoning? According to an article on Earlham’s newspapers website, The Earlham Word, their Area Director for First Year Experience Emily Krechel “thought that putting first-years together would help them feel more comfortable and eventually allow them to make upperclassmen friends. She also observed that when all grades lived together, they didn’t hang out much in their halls, only around campus in small groups.” This was the opinion of the administration, with similar Quaker values to Guilford. It is questionable why they switched. And why we have not. If we changed our housing options, students could further their relationships and the community bonding could grow in large numbers.