Pitt to expand University Honors College on-campus housing

Next school year, Pitt will allocate 300 more beds on campus to University Honors College… Next school year, Pitt will allocate 300 more beds on campus to University Honors College housing.

The fall 2012 planned transformation of Brackenridge Hall into what will be the third dormitory on campus dedicated to on-campus honors housing will create more “satisfied customers” out of students, according to University Honors College Dean Edward Stricker.

And even though Stricker is working toward making the UHC less exclusive and more open to all students, he still wants to ensure that students who are “serious about their academics” have the opportunity to live together.

The additional 300 beds dedicated to honors housing will augment the 400 beds in Sutherland Hall and the 100 beds in the Forbes Craig Apartments currently reserved for UHC students.

As of fall 2011, there were 7,400 student beds on campus. That number will increase with the opening of the new 556-bed dorm at University Place this fall.

“The situation is not much different than the situation that other students face,” Stricker said regarding on-campus housing for honors students. “Programs that are run in each dorm building are catered to the students in residence. In this case, we are catering to a subset of the student population that is serious about themselves, serious about their academics and serious about their plans for the future.”

If a student attains a minimum grade point average of 3.25, he or she is eligible to apply for honors housing. Enrollment in specific honors courses is not required.

The University selects students for honors housing based on application essays and academic credentials. Stricker said that the essays require students to explain, in approximately 250 words, why they want to live in the dorms and what benefits they believe they will receive if their request is granted.

Stricker said the UHC looks to confirm that individuals are the “serious students” that they claim to be. He said that rarely are they faced with instances of misrepresentation.

There are guidelines that must be met for admittance into UHC courses as well. A 3.25 grade point average is required for students to be automatically eligible to enroll in honors courses, but those who do not meet the requirement can ask permission from the professor offering a course. If professors cannot meet with students prior to scheduling, UHC advisors can also grant this permission.

“We are trying to make the process as easy as possible, but we are also trying to make sure it is a sensible, suitable situation for each student. And the same sort of thing applies in regards to the dorm selection process,” Stricker said.

Organizers envision that Brackenridge Hall will operate similarly to Forbes Craig — as a housing option for honors upperclassmen who are seeking to live with other honors students and participate in programs that appeal to their specific interests.

Sophomore roommates Joshua Gyory and Nuwan Perera have decided to retain their spot in honors housing next year and continue living in the Forbes Craig Apartments.

“I definitely value the intellectual atmosphere of honors housing,” Gyory said. “There is a community feel, and we are never afraid to leave our doors open or walk into other rooms if people have left their doors [open.] We’re all friends.”

Perera said that honors housing is definitely a close-knit community, but both roommates said they fear that planners of the expansion could overestimate the number of students who are looking to live in honors housing in the future.

“What is so great about the Honors College is that people care about it,” Perera said. “Everybody who is chosen to live here wants to. But I am not sure if there will be enough students interested to fill both Forbes Craig and Brackenridge, and if people are forced to live in the Honors College [housing] to fill space, then it will make the environment less special.”

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said that there are no potential challenges to making the transformation because it will have a minimal impact on the already predominately sophomore Brackenridge dormitory.

“This will allow more students to continue living in the academically rich and engaging environment of the Honors College,” Fedele said.

Stricker said that he does not view the approximately 700 beds dedicated to honors housing as creating a conflict of interest for the University.

“The students who are part of the honors housing are already part of the Pitt undergraduate population, so we are not taking beds out of the circulation,” Stricker said. “We are not diminishing the pool of beds for those who are seeking beds, and we certainly are not sequestering them because the beds that University students want are the ones they will be receiving.”

Fedele agreed that the reserving of additional beds for honors students is not any different than reserving beds for other students.

“They are students who already have housing guarantees, and this move will simply create a living-learning community for them,” Fedele said in an email.

He said the demand for honors housing has been rising, and more students regularly apply for this housing than there are beds available. This prompted UHC administrators to offer students an answer to the problem.

Sophomore Enoch Tse said that he originally chose to live in honors housing for the academic community and environment, but that friends have played a role in his decision to remain.

“My friends decided to stay in honors housing, so I decided to as well,” Tse said. “It is nice because Forbes Craig has a lounge that people actually use, and it is nice to always have people to talk to. If Brackenridge expands the community for honors students who are looking for the same atmosphere, then, for them, signing up probably just feels right.”

The UHC did not specifically choose Brackenridge Hall for the transformation; rather, organizers simply filed a request for more housing options for their students with Pitt’s upper administration, which then agreed comply with the request.

“The goal was to come up with a building that was appropriate for sophomore/junior-style living,” Fedele said. “Brackenridge, because it contains suites, was a natural place to look.”

Pitt’s UHC provides services for all students who seek them out, and its services are not limited to those who consider themselves members of the Honors College.

Stricker said that in no way does Pitt need to worry about a sense of elitism around campus.

“We don’t present ourselves in a way that should cause concern,” he said. “We are not saying that we have something special for only one type of student and that others aren’t allowed to be included.”