The University’s honors dormitory has changed name and location a few times, with its most recent incarnation being Balz-Dobie, nestled at the crown of the Alderman Road dorms. It should not exist.
Echols, Rodman and a few Arts and Sciences Scholars, chosen for their academic achievement and strength of college application, may live in Balz-Dobie. Echols and College Science Scholars study in the College, whereas Rodman Scholars study in the Engineering School. The University encourages these scholars to sequester themselves in this ivory tower, separating themselves from the rest of the University community ostensibly to live with like-minded people in a more academic setting than in a regular dormitory. While the dorm’s purported purpose of valuing scholarship is almost admirable, separating the honors students from the other students fosters a problematic perception of honors students and lowers socioeconomic diversity across dorms, to the overall detriment of a student’s potential to learn.
On the FAQ of the Echols Scholars website, the Office of Undergraduate Admission claims to look for “academic excellence, intellectual leadership, and evidence of the ability to grapple with complex topics.” According to their logic, keeping honors students in the same dorm would foster an intellectual environment, thus maintaining academic excellence. Researchers have found, however, that living in an honors dormitory has little bearing on a student’s GPA. Furthermore, the FAQ goes on to say it’s also interested in “intellectual risk-takers.” If the Echols program is truly looking for curious, risk-taking pioneers, cloistering their scholars into a single, homogenous dorm seems counterintuitive.
Living among socioeconomic diversity offers a learning experience a classroom cannot match, and residential halls offer the best opportunities to get to know perfect strangers. The honors dorm, however, lacks the range of students that other dorms have. A strong positive linear correlation between high SAT and ACT scores and family income has been recorded many times. In choosing students, honors programs weigh these scores, along with expensive extracurriculars and academic achievement that comes more easily to students who can afford tutors or don’t have to work. Honors programs bias their dormitories to socioeconomic homogeneity.
A problematic perception of honors students and the creation of an unequal power structure benefitting honors over non-honors students are endemic to honors programs. This is further aggravated, and physically manifested by the construction of an honors dorm. If the University’s goal is to build a model academic community that the rest of the university should follow, it should not place the honors students on a special pedestal, ensconced in a special dormitory. The University should disseminate them throughout the dorms, so honors and non-honors students can live together and learn from each other, and foster a shared sense of purpose, standing and community.
Tsering Say is a Viewpoint writer.
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