E

ver since Hamilton eliminated the last vestiges of off-campus housing, the College has made a concerted effort to cut down on the availability of gathering places on campus. Although most students and alumni know that the Farmhouse was demolished this summer, a smaller number are aware of the spaces that have disappeared over the course of the last five years.

My class of 2019 never got the chance to use sanctioned gathering spaces like the basement of Sadove or the split houses known as 3994 and 4002 nestled between North Parking Lot and the Aviary. The basement of the Woollcott Co-Op, long used for events such as rock shows and DJ sets, was locked at the beginning of this semester and the administration is showing no inclination of opening it again for student use. As a current resident of the Co-Op, this restriction on our space has affected what we can do with our building and the kind of events we can put on.

Last February, the Co-Op residents invited LA-based rapper Old Man Saxon to play a set in our basement after giving his TEDx talk on campus. A short notice event of this nature — that took place after hours that the Annex or Barn stay open until — could not have happened anywhere else on campus. Because of the basement, we could offer a safe, non-alcohol related event to the campus community.

This is not the first time the Co-Op has used its space to provide this kind of event. The Terrapin Trio, a Hamilton Grateful Dead cover band, played multiple times last year in addition to several startup rock groups and DJs. As we lose spaces such as this every year, how can we best continue our culture of public events on campus?

Last year, no event hosted by the Co-Op was shut down by Campus Safety and not a single student required EMT attention for excessive consumption of alcohol from the house, yet still, the administration felt it was necessary to stop us from using this space for campus events. There was no previous dialogue between us and our Area Director concerning what exactly about our events was unacceptable; we simply returned this fall to find a locked door. By removing these semi-private spaces and forcing students to use spaces like the Annex or the Barn for events that would be more suited to a smaller and more secluded venue, the College is cutting down on the variety and quality of non-drinking events on campus without any indication that these events present more risk than sanctioned parties.

If the College is serious about ensuring student safety at social events, gradually winnowing down the number of established, recognized spaces is not the way to do it. Places like the Co-Op basement have rare (if any) issues with alcohol or drugs, in addition to hosting fun, inclusive events like the aforementioned concerts. Rather than forcing students to look elsewhere for weekend activities, the school needs to realize that safe locations already exist. Taking away the Co-Op basement is merely a symptom of the larger issue at hand. Acceptable social spaces are hard to come by, which makes it all the more confusing and frustrating when such places are shut down with little or no explanation.

If we as a campus think that these events or these spaces are important to our social life and sense of community at Hamilton, we need to start making our opinions known. It is to everyone’s advantage — both students and the administration.