Problem dorm to start fresh
Butterfield to house first-year students

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

n a move campus officials hope will alter a pattern of destructive behavior among some students, Butterfield House, a site of ongoing vandalism and other illegal behavior, has been repaired and reprogrammed for the fall. The dormitory is now primarily for first-year students, who are either in Commonwealth College living-learning programs or in Residential Academic Programs.

      Citing extensive vandalism and dangerous behavior in Butterfield, Housing Services officials informed the upper-class students who had planned to return to the dormitory this fall that they would be living elsewhere. In a June 11 letter from Michael A. Gilbert, director of Housing Services, students who were planning to live in Butterfield were offered the option of selecting a different on-campus dorm or moving off-campus with no penalty for canceling their room reservation.

     "The decision to reprogram the building and relocate the students [who were living in Butterfield last year] affected 101 students," Gilbert said. "About 80 of them had lived in Butter-field, and the others were hoping to transfer there. "About two-thirds remained on campus, reassigned to other housing, most of them with their preferred roommate." Former Butterfield residents were not placed together in larger groups, however.

     The dormitory suffered extensive damage from vandalism during finals week, according to Gilbert, including the burning of a sofa, graffiti on every wall of some floors, broken bottles in the dining area, and shower stall partitions torn from the walls.

     Destruction in the dormitory was not new, he said, nearly two dozen residents had been removed and placed in other housing units earlier in the 2000-01 school year because they were found responsible for vandalism.

     In addition to destruction, there was an escalation in dangerous behavior, Gilbert said. Students removed fire doors, tampered with smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and electric service to their building, and dropped cinder-blocks from fourth floor windows. There also were four arrests by campus police during the year that involved "major" amounts of illegal drugs, according to Police Chief Jack Luippold.

     "We saw this opportunity to change the atmosphere and have this fresh start," said Gilbert of the reprogramming. "In this year, we're looking forward to working with students who are excited about living in that community, and we think it's going to be a desirable circumstance because these students will be sharing classes and socializing as new students to campus.

     "There also will be about 20 non-first-years, mostly sophomores but a few juniors, who will be upperclass mentors to assist them in their transition to being University students."
The dormitory used to have meals served in its own kitchens, but the University wanted to encourage the first-year students in the Butterfield groups, who will be doing many of their activities with their dormmates, to have contact with other students on campus, Gilbert said.

     "It's in the best interest of the students to have their meals with other students in the Franklin Dining Commons or elsewhere," he said.

     "We decided to close down the kit-chen and use that space in ways that correspond with the new goals - as instructional and program-activity space.

     "We've done extensive work to the building. Most of it was planned before the decision to reprogram the building. We planned ceiling, floor and room-door replacements. But we also had to do extensive R-and-R work because of the vandalism during finals week.

     "We're waiting on final tweaks to the fire alarm system," he said Tuesday. "Pending that approval, we're all set."