Susan Murphy on Student Life
New living options help students flourish

Are the needs of today’s college students different from your generation?

Yes, they are, and it’s important for us to stay current with the needs of every generation of students. For example, this generation of students is seeking a more integrated experience that knits together living and learning. Students today are also
looking for recreational and fitness spaces. They are used to their own space and have high expectations regarding technology.

What are the most significant changes at Cornell?

They’ve been dramatic. Until the mid-90s, we worked on a project basis to address singular programming or building needs. In 1996 the Board of Trustees committed Cornell to providing supportive residential communities that contribute to an intellectually engaged, socially responsive campus. When President Rawlings articulated the Residential Initiative in 1997, he gave us a roadmap to fulfill the mission. We have moved all first-year students to North Campus, we are making West Campus architecturally and programmatically attractive to upper- class students, and we are implementing a strategic plan for the Greek system.

Why is it important to improve residence life?

We house many fewer students on campus than our peer institutions. Cornell didn’t offer on-campus housing when it opened its doors, and we didn’t build men’s housing until 50 years after our founding. Given this history, we have not been as well-positioned as some of our peers to integrate the academic and residential experience or even just meet their students’ needs. In looking at the quality of the overall educational experience, we’ve recognized that learning doesn’t happen just in the classroom. We know the importance of athletics and student activities. It’s the same thing with faculty-student interaction. We need a strong residential-life program to compete for the best students. We also need to develop residential programming to make Cornell one of the best research universities for undergraduate education.

With the Residential Initiative well under way, how successful is it?

In many ways we’re doing very well in the program quality and residential space we offer. The new residences on North Campus are magnificent, and West Campus is developing superb facilities. Keeping with the Cornell spirit, students have terrific choices: living-learning houses; fraternities; sororities; self-governed, small cooperative communities; and theme-based houses. We’re still light on the number
of students we house on campus, but we can say to every freshman, sophomore, and transfer student, “If you want to live on campus, you may.” That’s new. We are also pleased with the depth and the variety of programming we are offering our students in all the different residential communities.

What are the West Campus house system’s early achievements?

We’ve had two fabulous beginnings with the opening of Alice H. Cook House and Carl L. Becker House. The facilities are excellent, providing common spaces for students and faculty to come together. There is a great partnership with our visiting faculty, and having Bill Nye or Janet Reno live in the house for a week is a wonderful experience for students. Faculty house fellows are a real plus. Cook House faculty have gotten to know students very, very well, and we continue to look for ways to make student-faculty interaction easy. With the first house professor and dean Ross Brann, and assistant dean Jean Reese, you couldn’t ask for better leadership. Cindy Hazan, house professor and dean at Becker House, and Jeff Ellens ’98, the assistant dean, are following in their footsteps and developing distinctive new programs.

Are students eager to live in the new houses?

The demand from students for Cook House and Becker House is heartwarming. Seventy students chose to stay on at Cook House or migrated to Becker House. That speaks well, especially since this is the early stage. We know from North Campus that it takes a full generation of students going through the four-year cycle for residential opportunities to become known to them.

What challenges lay ahead with West Campus?

We’re not halfway through and have many challenges to achieve this transition by 2009. We’re constructing three more houses and the new Noyes Communit Recreation Center, and developing programs in each facility. Successful completion of this project is tied to our success in fundraising for programmatic endowments and construction expenses.

How is Cornell addressing student demand for fitness spaces?

Plans are under way to expand and renovate Helen Newman Hall on North Campus and build the new Noyes Community Recreation Center on West Campus. Helen Newman Hall was a landmark facility when it was built as a women’s gym in the 1960s. But we have 3,700 students living on North Campus, and many more students live in the vicinity. The hall is just packed with students, and we desperately need a larger facility. An expanded Helen Newman will complete North Campus. The new Noyes Community Recreation Center continues the Noyes family tradition of providing community space for students. With the building of five West Campus houses, the
need for shared dining is gone because each house has its own dining room. The new center will serve students living nearby in fraternities, sororities, theme houses, and coops and build community among them. It will house a gym, a bouldering wall, multipurpose space, and an expanded fitness center. And all of these spaces are flexible.

How does the new Carol Tatkon Center serve first-year students?

The Tatkon Center has been a jewel. It opened two years ago on North Campus to support first-year students’ transition to university life. It’s a beacon for students, and a great resource. It also complements the Robert Purcell Community Center and
Appel Commons, whose programming is predominantly social and recreational. Tatkon Center provides community programming but is more centered on linking living and learning while meeting the developmental needs of first-year students. We’ve been thrilled with the center, and the foot traffic demonstrates its success.

How is Cornell supporting the Greek system?

Cornell’s Greek system is one of the largest in the country, with 45 fraternities and 18 sororities. But there is excess capacity, meaning more beds than house residents. I’m not sure what that’s telling us, but we’re working to figure it out. The Greek system developed its own strategic plan prior to the Residential Initiative, and it has been updated. We are in our third year of a pilot program called “Chapters of Excellence”
that extends principles of the Residential Initiative to Greek life. It’s a collaborative effort between students, alumni, and staff to revisit founding values, examine today’s operations, and strengthen and expand programming. Fourteen chapters are now participating, and it’s coming along well.

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