Author: The Occidental Weekly Editorial Board
Early last month, this publication reported that the college was weighing the purchase of a complex on Colorado Boulevard as an off-campus housing option for juniors and seniors that would remain under the oversight of Residential Education. While the details surrounding the practical assimilation of this complex remain unclear, the college’s motivation to expand new off-campus housing options should be commended.
Recent years have presented clear evidence of an overcrowding problem within the on-campus options. Creating new triples is an unsustainable policy that cannot be repeatedly leaned on as the student body grows. Looking around campus, there is hardly room for any more institutional expansion in time to solve this impending space crisis. And so, the fact that the college is considering any sort of off-campus expansion is undeniably beneficial to the community.
Off-campus expansion would create a hybrid of the ease of on-campus living and the responsibilities of off-campus living, letting students experience self-sufficiency with Occidental’s safety nets still in place. Many students, especially those in their senior year, are on the verge of living in the real world, with utility payments, kitchens and no cleaning staff. To have a housing option that will provide that intermediate step of “residential education” while keeping residents tied to the Occidental community would be a step in the right direction.
Initiatives of this type build on the positive examples already set by the Food Justice, Music and Berkus houses. A residential community separated from, but part of, the larger college environment proves that the absence of a dormitory does not threaten the involvement of students on campus, one of the major concerns cited in Occidental’s special consideration policy for juniors applying to live off-campus.
In his inaugural speech, President Veitch spoke of bursting the “Oxy bubble” and Occidental’s need to truly become a college of Los Angeles. In pursuing a strategy of new off-campus housing options, Veitch can prove that Occidental College is ready to begin taking steps towards a more holistic and practical approach to housing.
This editorial represents the collective opinion of the Occidental Weekly Editorial Board. Each week, the Editorial Board will publish its opinion on a matter relevant to the Occidental community.
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