Residences on the way out?

?

New Committee examines U.PE_I. residence life

new committee has been formed on A campus this year. The Committee Ex-

amining Residence Life (C.E.R.L.) is made up of the Director of Student Services, a Board of Governors Member, two faculty mem- bers, one resident student and one non-resident student. For the next few months, the commit- tee will be discussing the resident life here on U:P.ELT..

Some of the questions which C.E.R.L. is hoping to answer are: ‘‘What is the real role of university residence? Why do we (U.P.E.I.) offer accommodations and residential life pro- grams to our students? Do students really ben- efit from campus residence life? Is our support of this operation realizing the university’s mis- sion and mandate?’’ The committee is taking a thorough look at all of these questions, and they expect to come to a conclusion by the end of

March.

The resident buildings need a lot of money to keep running each year. At present, there are about 350 students living on campus. C.E.R.L. wants to come up with ideas which will attract students to living on campus. If they cannot increase the number of students, they want to decide if it is worth keeping the buildings running. As all on-campus students know, the resident buildings are in horrible condition. They are old, worn down, and no matter how clean they are, they still look dirty. The commit- tee is trying to decide if it is worth rebuilding the residence for students to live in.

Another, perhaps even more important, point C.E.R.L. is looking at is the purpose of residence. Is it for students to have a place to live while attending university, or is it a place for students to party at? Most students who live

on campus are there because they cannot afford any other place to live. Others prefer living on campus because it is close to classes. Unfortu- nately, university residences are often associ- ated with parties, booze and sex. Not all our residents have such a lifestyle, but many stu- dents do live in this manner. The committee wants to decide if this is a healthy way to live, and ifit is something which the university wants to be associated with.

For the rest of the year, the X-Press will be updating students on the committee’s findings. The newspaper hopes to get students’ opinions of the committee and the residences, and will publish the results of the committee as soon as they have come to a conclusion.

GRACE KIMPINSKI

Women in bed in Blanchard (?)

6/X-Press/November 11, 1993

Photo by Christina Estey