East Campus

>350 residents. Cook for yourself. Allows murals. 10 halls, some clothing optional, smoking optional, and with cats

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n = 70 (I live there, so they were pestered more than other dorms to respond to the survey)

Why choose to live there?

The culture, people

Diversity (interests, beliefs, race, gender, sexual orientation)

FREEDOM (self-governed security, painting walls, building things in your room)

Shenanigans and general insanity, “not boring”, “anything goes”

There are people with similar interests

Cook for yourself/non-dining

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There are subtle differences hall to hall. Many people answered why they chose their hall rather than “EC” as a whole

Social/cultural influences for choosing EC?

LGBTQ

Maker culture

Feels natural, especially with varied economic backgrounds

Personal space and singles

Student freedom

Open mindedness

Weirdness

People don’t care about things that don’t matter

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Perception of academic buildings

Classes/school

Psets and studying

Hanging out sometimes

Hanging out (a lot)

Extension of where I live

Classes/school

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Psets and studying

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Hanging out sometimes

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Hanging out a lot

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Extension of where I live

What is home to you? (n=61)

Where are you accepted

(1 = dorm/MIT, 5 = where you grew up)

Avg. 2.35

Avg. 2.05

Reasons for feeling of acceptance (27)

Anything goes / “we don’t give a fuck” as long as it’s not hurting someone else (8)

“People don’t start with expectations” (3 worded in that way, more implied)

LGBTQ acceptance (3)

There’s a large feeling of “I chose it, and it chose me”

People leave their doors open, whether they’re around or not

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People! (1 = existance, 5 = highly involved)

Houseteam (n = 68) 2.62

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Alumni (n = 66) 3.24

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GRT involvement varies a lot from hall to hall; each hall seems happy with the level of involvement of GRTs. As for the overall team, people like that it doesn’t step in unless asked for or if there’s something troubling. Residents are worried that since the houseteam is being made larger, this is going to change. Even if new members are liked as people, residents don’t like the system or its implications

Large distribution 1-5. Mystery hunt is important for bringing alumni back. How long they stay, how involved they are, and how many hang out depend on the hall. Mostly comments were of the format <name>!, with a variable number of exclamation marks marks.

3.00

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2.87

Residents! (1 = existance, 5 = highly involved)

Upperclassmen (n = 64) 4.42

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Freshmen (n = 30) 3.71

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Mostly 5 and 4, a few 3s and 2s. This is influenced greatly by the hall. Upperclassmen are viewed as friends first and foremost, but they also keep traditions going and give advice. The only complaint that comes up is “cliques”

This changes a lot from year to year. Any bitterness is usually when freshmen are unhappy and therefore “ghosty” on their hall. There’s contention of how much freshmen should do their own thing vs. be introduced to the prevailing “hall culture”. This varies a bit from hall to hall.

4.02

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3.30

Membership

Dorm security

*EC does not have Allied Barton

35/68 residents find the security perfect. 4 think it should be more extensive. 17 want there to be an express guest list. EC’s security is largely managed by the residents, and 38 want it to remain that way. No one wants Allied Barton (reasons listed include: it doesn’t make residents feel safer, many said it would make them feel unsafe or alienated, it limits social life, enforces a nightwatch rotation, and makes people feel like MIT doesn’t trust them)

Many residents leave their room doors open (or at least unlocked) all the time, and like it that way.

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Best (prompted)(n=66)

Ability to make physical changes to the space: 64

Personal freedom: 63

Shenanigans: 57

Ability and facilities to cook: 50

Pets: 40

Quiet Space: 19

Involvement of houseteam: 11

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Best (unprompted) (n=15)

Courtyard

Kitchens (multiple)

Sinks in rooms

Murals (3)

Building things in rooms

Social acceptance, ability to do whatever (2)

Hall clots/impromptu gatherings (3)

Having singles

The people there (multiple)

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*many entries were about specific halls (data not included).

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Worst (prompted, n=66)

Loneliness (20)

Not being a part of the shenanigans (13)

Commonly dissenting opinions (12)

Too quiet (9)

Not “my” space (8)

Too much houseteam involvement (3)

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Worst (unprompted)

Bad or broken facilities (non-working washers/dryers/showers)

When housing admin gets involved at the expense of residents’ freedoms

The Airgas truck that wakes people up

Show-offiness of residents

Hardk0re-ocracy

Not hardk0re enough

Isolation

Ghostiness of people on hall

When it’s quiet

Doubles

Complaining (“wanking”)

Not cleaning the kitchen

Negativity

Jealous of...

Mostly jealous of other EC halls: clothing optional, cats, games, sodalord, varying closenesses

Elevators

Nicer facilities/infrastructure

A more positive attitude

Cleaner kitchens

Burton Conner’s suite-style with more kitchen space

Burton Conner’s plumbing

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What would fundamentally change the dorm? (n=13)

Dorm security (5)

Losing the range of demographics (2)

Losing the ability to alter the space (2)

Not being able to be clothing optional (2)

Not having cats

Getting rid of the smoking policy (not allowing smoking halls)

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What do you want people to know?

We’re nice/we aren’t scary (4)

Not fitting into one hall doesn’t mean you won’t be at home at another. We have more diverse interests/hobbies among halls and people than it appears (3)

What we do and how we live is normal to us (2)

We thrive because of our freedom

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Editor’s note: Think about tradeoffs.

Choosing a dorm is all about tradeoffs. Here are some I’ve identified for East Campus