BARNARD'S CATHEDRAL GARDENS DORM: WORTH THE TREK?

In only a few days, the much anticipated fate of Barnard's newest residence hall will be revealed in its maiden lottery.

While new dorm Cathedral Gardens, located at 110th Street and Manhattan Avenue, boasts suite-style living, hardwood floors, dishwashers, and full baths, unresolved safety concerns, co-habitation with faculty, and the distance from campus are issues that have left the popularity of the building in question.

Some early indicators suggest many Barnard students are considering the dorm. Two hundred and eighty students came through the building during the open houses in late February, some bringing their parents along. Barnard Director of Residential Life and Housing Annie Aversa said that interest was expressed at every class level but especially among rising sophomores.

"There wasn't anyone who said, 'I wouldn't want to live here,'" Aversa said. "We were a little bit blown away by how positive students responded."

The building itself will hold 91 Barnard residents in suites of four, five, or six people. Some suites have only singles, while others have both singles and doubles. The 10th floor houses a community lounge and a laundry room, both to be shared with faculty. Packages will be delivered to the premises, but student mailboxes will remain in the McIntosh Student Center.

"I fell in love with it," said Mythri Jegathesan, GSAS and future graduate hall director of Cathedral Gardens. She noted that the community lounge will lend itself to a great programming space.

"It's nicer housing than I'll live in for the next 10 years in New York," said Danielle Wolfe, BC '07 and one of the two resident advisers who will be living in Cathedral Gardens. Wolfe has been an RA for the past two years, but after seeing the apartments at Cathedral Gardens she decided living there would be her first choice.

Both Jegathesan and Wolfe said they thought mostly upperclassmen would receive housing in Cathedral Gardens. Aversa said that she thought the building's distance from campus and its apartment-style living would be "a really good way for seniors to transition to life after Barnard."

Aversa said that if necessary, the doubles will go into general selection so that a smaller group of seniors could be accommodated in a larger suite. "By doing that, we can create it as more of a senior-type community," she said.

However, some students have said they are concerned with the safety of the neighborhood in which Cathedral Gardens is located.

The Office of Residential Life and Housing has taken various measures to address these concerns. Aversa said patrol cars will go around the block more frequently after students move in to monitor the area. Other security measures include a mandatory meeting between Barnard security and future residents, the installation of nine security cameras, a 24-hour doorman, and a new stop on the Columbia shuttle right in front of the building's front door.

Some of the building's residents said they haven't had any problems. "I find it totally safe," said Jose Moya, a Barnard professor of history who has been living in the building since the beginning of the semester. He commented, "so far, so good."

The neighborhood "is diverse, it's not completely gentrified," Moya said, adding that the location has "character." He mentioned Morningside Park and a soul food restaurant named Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too as two attractive aspects.

Moya is trying to start a faculty in-residence program in the building, similar to the program he ran for several years at UCLA. He said the purpose would be to "promote interaction between faculty and students beyond the classroom" by organizing activities such as concerts, plays, or museum outings with students.

"The initiative for the programs will come from the students themselves," he said.

Moya has lived among students before, and he called the experience "a more democratic arrangement."

Some students said living with faculty would only enhance their living experience. "I can't see why it wouldn't be a positive influence," Jegathesan said. Though she noted that noise might be a problem as it has been in other residence halls that house outside tenants.

According to Moya, about 10 faculty members are currently living in Cathedral Gardens. As of next fall, though, the building will be home to several other new faculty members as well.