Dorms have personalities, students say

Why did the freshman soccer player cross the road? To get to the party in West Campus!

The wide range of student housing options at Boston University has created distinct cultural differences for students living anywhere between East and West Campus, students said. Although they are only stereotypes, students said they tend to be drawn to certain housing for similar reasons, leading to common perceptions and dorm personalities.

Warren Towers resident Sarah Hall said she has heard many of the common stereotypes about the dorms. The residents of Danielsen Hall, Myles Standish Hall and Shelton Hall tend to ‘keep to themselves more,’ a completely different persona than students living in West Campus and Warren, she said.

‘West and Warren are the big party people,’ Hall, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said.

Students do not form perceptions about a dorm arbitrarily, psychology professor Richard Ely said. A residence can have just as much of a persona as a person can, for a variety of reasons.

‘Physical spaces have personalities,’ he said. ‘Dorms acquire different characteristics’ based on their inherent design and who lives there.

For example, Warren Towers is mainly populated by freshmen and has very small rooms, he said. Because of this,m there is an inherent claustrophobia that forces people to want to leave their room and wander, searching for a new space, which causes the dorm to be more social before the freshman factor even enters the picture.

Stereotypes are a natural part of the way we see the world and often provide insight to our worldview, Ely said.

‘We form stereotypes based on our experiences,’ he said. ‘And there’s a degree of truth to stereotypes.’

CAS junior Chelsea Reddoch lives on Buswell Street, and said it is as quiet and antisocial as people say, but the nature of many of the residents does not promote extroversion.

‘If you’re an upperclassman, you already have friends,’ she said.

Former Hyatt resident Won Shick Ryu, who now lives on Buswell Street, said the design and location of the dorm has the greatest bearing on its personality. He said the Hyatt’s reputation as a party dorm held true because of the hotel set-up and location.

‘It’s easier to bring people in because it’s separate from the campus,’ Ryu, a School of Hospitality Administration freshman, said. The enforcement of housing policies is less strict than in a dorm like Warren Towers, in part, because normal hotel guests also stay among the students.

Like many students, College of General Studies freshman Andrea Luk said dorm personalities vary depending on location within campus because students tend to pick housing closer to their school.

‘I think the people in the different residences also have something to with what school they’re near,’ she said. ‘Like West has the [College of Fine Arts], CGS, sports kids, and HoJo [575 Commonwealth Ave.] is the [School of Management] kids.’

Especially for freshmen and others subjected to a more random placement process, the students who are put in dorms make them what they are, Hall said.

‘It’s not who’s attracted to what dorm,’ Hall said. ‘It’s what happens once you get in there.’