Starting next year, Biola University will welcome Thompson Hall, the off-campus housing building, as an official dorm.

Apartments to gain dorm-like quality

Those who are familiar with the building located out in “The Bluff” by the Welch and Li Apartment complexes know that technically it has always been a dorm, but now it will start to take on a more dorm-like quality.

It is in fact a dorm style layout, much like Sigma Chi with their suite-style rooms, but has been treated more like its adjacent apartment buildings with its Resident Coordinators, upperclassman occupancy and commuter status in recent years.

Built in 1990, Thompson Hall started out as an upperclassmen dorm that held 150 students, and throughout the years it has undergone some changes in the way in which it is run.

Upperclassmen apartments to gain RD’s and RA’s

According to Beth Tabor, associate dean of Residence Life, five years ago, Thompson was changed in status from an average dorm to a building more like the apartment complexes around it. The dorm went from using a resident director and resident assistants as Resident Life’s means of running the building and monitoring its activity, to using RC’s in attempts to save money. Recently, though, ResLife was allocated more funds, which allows Thompson to go back to the more traditional dorm feel.

“Really, the only change is that we are going to go back to an RD with RA’s instead of RC’s,” Tabor said. “At this point, we are still going to keep it just juniors and seniors in the dorm, and the upperclassmen will still keep their same privileges, such as more open house hours.”

Some resident’s want to keep independence

Tiffany Evins, RC of Thompson’s first floor, said that the difference between RA’s and RC’s is that RA’s are just like peers since they are around the same age, and they are more like event organizers than anything else. RC’s are older and more like supervisors, and they organize fewer hall events, knowing that students have busier schedules.

Junior Colleen House agreed.

“I like not having an RA because I feel like, as juniors and seniors, we don’t need that one person telling us what to do,” House said. “We already have a resident coordinator who is older than us, more mature and better equipped to lead us. I go there [Thompson] because it’s an upperclassman dorm.”

House said she thinks the idea of switching to a dorm status was “terrible.”

“I choose to live in Thompson because it is quiet, sort of like living on your own in an apartment,” House said. “It’s the only other option compared to living in an apartment or in a dorm.”

According to Evins, Thompson Hall is thought of as a dorm that is more secluded, because of its students need to cope with their packed schedules. It gives them less supervision and more freedom for them to lead adult, private lives. Despite that fact, Evins said she believes Thompson becoming a dorm with RA’s is a leap in the right direction.

Dorm life to bring connectedness

“I think it is a positive change for Thompson,” Evins said. “Because of the structure of the building, even though it is off campus, it is meant to be a dorm. Having the RA’s will make it more connected and easier to integrate the entire hall. They will have more events and feel more connected on campus.”

Evins said that since Thompson is really meant to be a dorm, it is a lot more difficult to manage everyone with RC’s. There are two halves to the floor, and the two halls are not very connected. RA’s would solve that problem.

Some people hold a different opinion and think that that disconnectedness is not a problem at all. Rachel Kim, a junior, believes that switching to RA’s is unnecessary.

“We don’t really need RA’s anyway,” Kim said. “In Thompson we have busy schedules and cars…so we don’t need to have RA’s to make events for us. We can go do our own thing…I like being kind of separate from all the activity.”

Hall’s future uncertain

In regards to Thompson Hall’s involvement next year in dorm spirit events, such as Nationball, AS had yet to decide whether Thompson will become a team within itself or whether it will still be considered part of the Off Campus Commuter (OCC) team. It is a possibility that the level of dorm activity will remain unchanged, despite Thompson’s new dorm status.

Room reservations for next year will allow juniors and seniors to apply to live in Thompson Hall, so that they can enjoy all that Biola’s newest dorm has to offer.