Graham Hall Should Turn a New Corner

By Claire Ingebretsen

There have been varying reports on the "new" Graham Hall. Many residents complain the dorm is not social enough, is too quiet and thus lacking a tight-knit community. What most do not realize is that it is not because the community is flawed, but the physical environment they live in. 

The Alpha RLC is known for hosting a wide variety of programs celebrating the arts, literature, philosophy, history and art history. Saturnalia, a little over a week long festival is full of competitive and fun events. Such traditions helped sophomore Patrick McDonell "fall in love with Santa Clara." 

The Alpha community is not anti-social or a bad one. In fact it is the opposite. Many of the people in Alpha are quickly becoming some of my favorite people at Santa Clara.

Residents of Graham complained it is difficult to see other residents. This may be attributed to a lack of a central lounge. There are 12 neighborhoods in Graham consisting of one lounge, a full kitchen and roughly 30 students. Not having a common lounge means residents tend to set up in the lounge closest to them, inhibiting them from moving to a common space to meet other residents. 

Furthermore, residents cannot see their whole neighborhood. If you look down the hallway on any Graham floor, you will find nothing but a corner. 

This makes for a very restrictive environment, since just around that corner is the rest of your hall. Being unable to see other residents does not encourage resident interaction.

Granted, it may be too early to rule Graham out as a non-social residence hall. 

McDonell admits that "a quarter-and-a-half in may be too early to say, but I don't see the same community as I did in Nobili." 

Along that same line, André Joseph, a community facilitator in Graham, insists the architecture "is fine, it has potential. It is a new building, and we are still figuring out how to navigate that." 

Joseph brings up a great point --- Graham is still being sorted out. Residents and CFs are still learning how to socialize in the new layout. 

The old layout for Alpha was Nobili, last year. McDonnell recalls Nobili "as a tight and fluid community." He attributes this to sharing one main hallway, a common lounge and "stuffing kids in like sardines." McDonnell reasons that being in close contact with his peers forced Nobili residents to "figure out how to create a rich community."

Joseph explained that "some of his best nights of formation (CF training) were spent sitting in the hallway of Nobili." The current Graham CFs originally lived in Nobili because construction on Graham was not yet finished. 

Little has changed in the Alpha RLC. What has changed is where Alpha is located. 

Yes, Graham is not what everyone expected it to be. But when is anything exactly as you expect? Architecture does influence who you see and how you communicate with them, but it is not the do all end all.

I invite the residents of Graham to break the building in a bit more. If all else fails, say hello to a few new faces at our next fire alarm.