Dormitories then, apartments now

Furnald, in the early 1960’s, had the wood panelling, the fireplace, the overstuffed lounge chairs, and the red brick elegance of McKim, Mead, and White, along with a view of resident comfort which is absolutely stark by today’s standards. As I look at the residences at the college where I teach today, obviously I see the computer facilities and the audio and video gear.

It’s the other facilities which make the difference.

Rising standards of living, not too long after I left Furnald, gave undergraduates more or less private bathrooms and kitchens. I can’t help thinking that the change is not altogther a good thing. For one thing, there’s availability - If you share one shower among four, you’ll have to wait more often than if you share five showers among twenty.

More importantly, college should be an equalizer and a socializer. It should bring you face to face, at least, with a lot of people, not encourage you to retreat into a fully-stocked apartment and turn your back on everyone else. The John Jay Cafeteria was something less than a convivial meeting place, but it did get you out of your room.

If my hypothesis is accurate, current students are more likely to turn inward, and less likely to seek to form groups - more likely, as the book title says, to go bowling alone. Furnald rooms were an ugly light green, but they did a lot for me.

Harold Hotelling