Despite skepticism, location and format make LLC popular with underclassmen

When Charlie Lopresto, CC ’12, and his suitemates decided to cook together in their Hartley kitchen one weekend night, the dinner far surpassed what one would expect from a typical college meal. Surrounded by his ten suitemates and seated before a table of fresh bread, pies, and a host of side dishes, Lopresto tucked into a true Thanksgiving feast.

“It was a great experience—and a break from John Jay,” Lopresto said. “To have the option to cook and be with your friends and share a good meal, it’s a really nice thing to have.”
Lopresto’s experience may embody the Living Learning Center’s purpose—the formation of a tight-knit community within the residential halls. But as more students apply to the LLC for reasons apparently unrelated to the program’s original goals, the mission itself continues to provoke skepticism, as it has since the program’s inception in 2000.

The LLC was established in 2000, becoming the only all-class integrated residential community at Columbia University. It was built with the goal of providing what the Office of Residential Programs calls “a unique residential opportunity for students of all four years,” allowing students of all grade levels to learn from one another’s experiences within an intimate living community.

For those accepted, the LLC offers a range of programming, from alumni dinners to discussion series as well as recreational events for students such as ice skating trips. Through these programs, the LLC aims to foster strong relationships between students residing in the dorms and among students, residential staff, and faculty.

But according to some students, who are generally happy to live in the LLC, participation in these programs is minimal, drawing questions as to whether the LLC is accomplishing its intended purpose. In 2001, a year after the founding of the LLC program, Spectator reported that “from the day it was announced last spring, the Hartley-Wallach Living Learning Center has been controversial” and that LLC residents remained puzzled as to the program’s actual purpose beyond its guaranteed favorable housing. These questions are still being raised today, as students’ motives for applying stray from the LLC’s mission of providing its residents with valuable learning experiences.

According to the Office of Residential Programs, the LLC has seen a consistent and substantial increase in applications since 2007 with applications nearly doubling in the past two years. But rather than seeking LLC programming, many students apply to live in the Center for its prime location and as a means of evading the housing lottery.

“It’s definitely a way out for rising sophomores,” Alen Trubelja, SEAS ’11, said. “I guess it’s pretty well known that sophomore housing is the worst just because all freshmen are housing in the immediate center.”

Others agreed, citing LLC’s single rooms and suites as a highly desirable combination.

“Frankly, I really just wanted a single and I liked the idea of living in a suite with my friends and living with other people,” Annie Minoff, CC ’11, said. “All of the other programs were an added bonus, but that didn’t really attract me to the program.”

In fact, several students said that LLC’s events are sparsely attended, as the events often conflict with students’ daily schedules.

“I think the events are really cool, but I haven’t been able to take advantage because they’re on weekdays,” Jason Sun, CC ’12, said.

“The programs are pretty much nonexistent,” Lopresto said. “People think you have to do LLC events. It’s really just a place to live.”

But while the programs and events may not promote a great deal of camaraderie among residents, the LLC may be succeeding nonetheless. Students point to the suite-style living of the LLC as a means of fostering the close-knit relationships that the program seeks to create.

“The LLC has the reputation of being antisocial, which I don’t think is true,” Minoff said. “You would never have that sense of community in a hall that you do in a suite. I think a lot of it has to do with having a kitchen—people come together.”

Sun agreed, pointing out that the suites contain rooms where students can mingle.

“I think that within a suite, if you have a group of people who are willing to hang out in the living room for a little, it does build close friendships within the suite,” Sun said.

“What I’m grateful for is that the people I’m friends with now, I never would have been friends with if they weren’t in my suite,” Trubelja said.

Regardless of students’ reasons for applying to the LLC, the administration has said that the program maintains its popularity, as students, faculty, staff, and alumni continue to report on the program’s benefits.

“Over the past several years, first-year students have increasingly selected the Living Learning Center as one of their top housing preferences,” director of residential programs Cristen Scully Kromm said. “Through the leadership of Scott Helfrich and his student staff, residents are actively connected to students from all four classes, faculty, staff and alumni through an array of programmatic initiatives that enrich our students’ residential experience.”