Dorm reforms

Thursday, January 21, 1999

Dorm reforms

Even with Internet-ready rooms and cable TV, life ‘on the Hill’
remains virtually the same

as it did 40 years ago –

an experience like none other

By Nick Williams

Daily Bruin Contributor

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This cliche
has been thrown around time after time, year after year, and it
always seems to hold true, especially when describing the history
of campus residential life.

Students have been living on the UCLA campus since its opening
in 1919. Since then, new facilities have been built and are still
being constructed.

Technology has changed student resources on campus and will
continue to do so. Evolving morals and social ideals have also
played a role in the changing lives of campus residents. Through
all of these alterations, how does student housing seem to remain
the same?

"It’s a buddy system, a support system for schoolwork in an
overwhelming place," said Barbara Adams, a 1970 graduate and former
resident of Hershey and Sproul residence halls.

"You can reach out to a whole new group of friends who are
really strangers that are all in this thing with you," said Matt
Buxby, a first-year undeclared student and resident of Hedrick
Hall.

Even though new buildings, facilities and resources are added to
what campus residents call the "Hill," past and current residents
agree that on-campus housing has always offered a sense of security
and friendship..

"The strangers were the best people I met," Adams said.

The first residence halls on campus opened shortly after World
War II. Before, students mainly lived in cooperatives or fraternity
and sorority houses.

The university operated a married student residence in Westwood
called Gayleyville, said Dennis Bitterlich of the university
archives.

Gayleyville no longer exists, but married student housing is now
available in several university-owned, off-campus apartments.

Mira Hershey Hall on the east side of campus served as a
residence hall for over 60 years. It now holds classrooms and
offices formerly in Haines Hall, which is currently undergoing
seismic renovation.

The first high-rise dormitory, Dykstra Hall, was built in 1959
and is currently being attached to the future De Neve Housing
Project.

Three more high-rises followed: Sproul Hall in 1960, Rieber Hall
in 1963 and Hedrick Hall in 1964.

In 1980 came the construction of the residential suites, Hitch
Suites and Saxon Suites. Set in a wooded atmosphere, the suites
generally house athletes and second-year residents.

In 1991, Sunset Village, a conceptual sprawl of three distinct
buildings, Delta Terrace, Canyon Point and Courtside was built.

With Sunset Village came the construction of Covel Commons, the
Northwestern Auditorium and new student service establishments.

Sunset Village modernized UCLA campus housing and brought with
it air conditioning, the Hilltop Shop, the after-hours Puzzles
eatery, the Villager Arcade and the Student Technology Center.

Five years later, ethernet connections were added to each room
in every facility, supported by the new Student Technology
Center.

"Ethernet connections were available at every college I applied
to. It was a must for me; you cannot live on campus today and not
have e-mail," Buxby said.

More equipment and technology also makes campus life easier. New
electronic transfer stations in the residence halls allow students
to deposit money in their Bruin Card accounts, said Sholeh
Jahangir, president of the Rieber Hall Residents’ Association.

Apart from advances in technology and construction of new
facilities, student life also changed through the years brought on
by an evolution of student values and interests.

"When I was at Hershey and Sproul, there was a boy wing and a
girl wing. I lived on an all-girl floor" Adams said.

"There are some all-girl floors in Hedrick now, but where I live
it is divided by sex only by room. Guys and girls really come and
go as they please," Buxby said.

Throughout the history of dorm life, students have been
supervised by a Resident Assistant (RA).

"An RA’s responsibility is to act as a disciplinary role model,"
Jahangir said. RAs also act as advisors, counselors and mediators
for residents on their floor.

"There was a boss on the floor, an RA, who was kind of in charge
of everyone," Adams remembered.

The Office of Residential Life, the office that regulates life
in on-campus housing, recently added a new position to each floor,
called a Program Assistant (PA).

"The PA position is a new one in the last 10 years. PAs program
events for the floor and make sure people have a good time,"
Jahangir said. "We also now have an RCI (Resident Computer Intern)
who helps out with technical life."

Events planned by residents’ associations and PAs have expanded
from cheerleader-led rallies to movie showings in the Northwestern
Auditorium, Karaoke nights and open house dances.

"There were welcomes and things like that, but it was all
cheerleaders and Bruinettes," Adams said, referring to her years
living on campus.

On-campus student government has also expanded considerably.

"There is a government now on each floor, and they report to the
Residents’ Association to promote a healthy living environment,"
Jahangir said.

Recently, at a meeting of the Rieber Hall leadership community,
Byron Howlett, an alumnus and five-year campus resident in the
1980s, spoke about his time at UCLA and its influence on his
current job as coordinator for residents’ life at Cal Poly
Pomona.

Although amazed by the new construction, he said the energy of
the community now was similar to when he was a resident on
campus.

Howlett also mentioned the feeling of having a support group to
help students face such a massive school, crediting a strong
student government and residents’ association as the foundation of
this support through programs and events.

A new problem facing residential housing is the much-publicized
overcrowding .

"That’s like jail; they’re in prison," Adams said about double
occupancy rooms housing three people.

"Having a triple isn’t so bad, but I wouldn’t mind a double at
all," Buxby said.

Where in the past, UCLA students lived in dorms and ate in
cafeterias, current life on the "Hill" is full of flashy new
terms.

For example, Residential Restaurants serve the residents of the
Residential Residences, Jahangir said.

"I call it alphabet soup, PAs, RAs, I don’t live in a dorm, I
live in a residence; I can never keep track," Buxby said.

"The technology is getting better, the restaurants are the best
in the nation and we now have a multicultural chair to diversify
events," Jahangir said.

Nonetheless, current and past residents of on-campus housing
agreed that throughout all of the changes, one thing remains the
same.

"It just feels good to live here, like you aren’t alone," Buxby
said.DAVID HILL

The residence halls have seen many improvements since the 1960s.
Rooms are now equipped with ethernet and cable

connections which link students to the world.

UCLA University Archives

Dykstra Hall was home to many students who lived on campus in
the early 1960s.

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