CAMPUS LIFE
Living and learning for the long haul on West Campus
Scenes from various West Campus events. See larger image
Kyler Wilkins '11 considers himself both a religious person and an analytical thinker. The two characteristics haven't always mixed.
"One of the biggest challenges for me has been reconciling religion and science," says the human development major.
A book club at Alice Cook House, where Wilkins lives, changed that.
Undergraduates, professors and graduate students had gathered last year to discuss the book "Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body." Naturally the evolution-creationism debate came up.
Wilkins remembers a professor pointing out that the two approaches attempt to answer different questions. Evolution tries to explain how we got here; religion explores why. "I thought, 'Wow, I never considered that,'" Wilkins says. "For me, it made perfect sense."
It's one example of how the impact of the West Campus experience may reverberate long after graduation. "[The students] are stretched, expanded and formed in ways that they wouldn't be otherwise," says Scott MacDonald, new professor-dean of Hans Bethe House, professor and chair of philosophy and the Norma K. Regan Professor in Christian Studies.
Each of the five West Campus houses expose sophomores, juniors and seniors to a variety of people, from 360 fellow students to six graduate resident fellows and visitors – often public figures like Janet Reno '60 and John Cleese – who occupy the guest suite. "All these experiences make students much more ready for the real world when they leave," says André Dhondt, new professor-dean of Alice Cook House and the Edwin H. Morgens Professor of Ornithology.
He and MacDonald both have plans to foster more of those experiences. Dhondt will invite nonresident house fellows (primarily faculty members) to come to weekly house dinners 30 minutes early, so that students can get to know them over a meal, he says. MacDonald wants to better integrate students into the Ithaca community, perhaps through a house project that will aid a local nonprofit.
These interactions can have an academic benefit. Wilkins diverged then returned to his goal of becoming a doctor thanks to talks with graduate students living at Alice Cook House, he says. "You're more confident in your decision because you've explored."
Professor Andr Dhondt, right, is the new house professor-dean of Alice Cook House; Professor Scott MacDonald is the house professor-dean of Hans Bethe House. See larger image
Other interactions can have a more practical component, MacDonald says. "If you have a general staying [in the guest suite], there will be discussions about politics, the nation and international relations, so we make our students better citizens by exposing them to that."
Wilkins learned to compromise by participating in the Alice Cook House council, which organized activities from Haiti relief projects to day trips to New York City and a semester-long West Campus Olympics. "It forces you to consider other people's perspectives, especially since you interact with these people on a daily basis," he says. That skill easily translates to many aspects of post collegiate life, Dhondt says. "[House council] trains people to be leaders – how to get things done, organize others, have different ideas and still find a solution."
Just as important are what MacDonald calls "life-building moments" that can change a young person's path for many years to come. "For me, it was discovering jazz music, seeing Monet's 'Water Lilies' for the first time," he says. "I tell my advisees, life is a long haul and you should be gathering the tools that are going to make you interesting over time. Those aren't necessarily the things that are going to get you the first job or the first paycheck."
Kayla Wilcox '12, an ILR major, has found one of those moments in ballroom dance. It's an expensive passion, so she was gratified last year when Alice Cook House funded the Cornell team's participation in a competition. "The support of your dreams, however cliché that sounds, is something that the West Campus system does for you. They're really open to helping you get personal fulfillment," Wilcox says.