To begin, the University did a lot of things well. New Butler is obviously a major improvement over the blemish it replaced. Whereas the old Butler quad was laid out to isolate as much as possible — it was “riot-proof”; only six rooms would be connected until you had to walk through a bathroom to get to the next hallway — new Butler’s layout makes much more sense. From top to bottom, the hallway system will create more cohesion among residents than did its predecessor.
Administrators also provided plenty of common space. There are study rooms and lounges on each floor of the new dorms. Each lounge includes a flat screen TV, so you never have to fight with kids from another building over whether to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” or any one of the 20 channels of Russian soap operas the University includes in its basic cable package. In addition, every floor has a kitchen for the Betty Crocker in all of us.
On the level of individual dorms, the University was careful to “build smart.” Windows in new Butler are easy to open, shades won’t snap up when released, and the air-conditioning system has an auto turn-off feature. Lighting in the new dorms is more conducive to studying than it is in the dark hollows of Bloomberg or 1915 halls. And dorms have been soundproofed, so parties will abound, creating more social cohesion and perhaps even a little more trouble.
That said, there were things the University did that made very little sense. Singles are scarce here, and, though all rooms are large, quads are made up of only three rooms (with a private bathroom—but come Parents Weekend, you wonder whose job it will be to clean it), instead of the more preferable five-room quad system. This lack of variety, coupled with the fact that there are no absolutely enormous rooms in new Butler, will prove undesirable to upperclassmen who always want huge rooms and often wind up drawing in coed draw groups. The need for a convenient four-four split between boys and girls means that some upperclassmen may be out of luck. If the University is serious about promoting the four-year college system to juniors and seniors, it should’ve considered this before putting pen to paper.
Finally, while the University gave students plenty of chances to see and comment on the new facilities before their completion, this seemed to be a gesture aimed more at placating potential student unhappiness than at eliciting constructive criticism. For instance: Our common area in the basement was designed to continue the overall new Butler modern architectural style rather than to provide comfort. Why didn’t the University build a huge TV lounge in the open space next to Studio ’34? The space looks as if it’s meant to mimic Frist, and so a TV lounge would’ve made sense. And where are the overstuffed chairs or couches that we all know and love? A couch I like to call “the red snake” that no one will sit on has replaced them. All in all, the basement feels too pristine to be a place where students will feel comfortable kicking back.
New Butler is a vast improvement both architecturally and functionally over the old Butler quad. Fingers crossed, it won’t need to be torn down in a decade or two. In the macro sense, the addition of two, brand-new four-year residential colleges south of Dillon Gymnasium will help to balance the University’s focus. But as Princeton moves forward in developing other dorms across campus, hopefully we’ll take note of what students have to say. Students, after all, aren’t meant to be seen and not heard, and administrators would do well to remember who ultimately winds up living in the dorms they design and build.
Oh, and to our neighbors across Elm Drive: The day of reckoning is here. You may have Tuesday College Nights, but stay tuned for “No Whitman Wednesdays.” Revenge, it’s said, is a dish best served cold.
Carrie Carpenter is an anthropology major from Rock Island, Ill. She is president of the Butler College Council. She can be reached at ccarpent@princeton.edu.
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