Jewell Hall used to be an all-freshman dorm, so it’s understandable why there were no nice things in the parlor. It’s hard to trust a bunch of rowdy 18-year-olds who have most likely never lived away from home before with nice things. As of two years ago, however, Jewell became available to all students. It currently houses freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. There is no reason why they can’t have a real couch or a ping pong table because, let’s face it, Jewell parlor looks like a hospital waiting room.
The tile walls look like the floors of a public bathroom. The couches are ugly, uncomfortable and covered in stains. They have thin cushioning and feel like you’re sitting on a wooden chair. The one table in the parlor is surrounded by chairs that also have such thin cushioning that it makes them no more comfortable than if the cushions weren’t there at all. “We keep them because they’re long lasting furniture,” said Jewell Resident Director Alondra Olvera. “This is what I came into,” she said, “and this is what we’ve always had.”
The Jones parlor has a piano, comfortable furniture, more than one long table for studying and a foosball table, but they’re getting a renovation instead of Jewell. Jones received a donation for a new parlor, and hopefully Jewell will get one soon as well. Vice President for Institutional Advancement Lauren Dodge is currently working on getting renovations for all of the dorm’s parlors. The Stoddard parlor was the first to receive a donation of $50,000 for renovations, and now Jones received that same donation. The department for institutional advancement is still working on proposals to fund all of the parlors.
Dodge did admit that when it comes to Jewell, “It’s harder to sell.” She explained that when requesting donations from alumni, there’s usually a balance of the needs of the campus, but also the sentimental value of the person donating the money. Jewell is the newest dorm on campus, so there aren’t as many sentimental connections to Jewell as there are to Stoddard and Jones.
The future plans for the parlors are going to involve student input. Dodge said their goal is to “let the students take ownership in the projects.” That being said, I have a couple of ideas for Jewell for when or if a donation comes in. There should be another long table for meetings, crafts or studying. When the house council has their meetings, there is no room for other students to study or play games. When there are events hosted in Jewell, like the ornament-making event last winter, there was only a small amount of room to do the crafts. Granted, there are fewer people living in Jewell than in some of the other dorms, but they should still be allowed to have a little bit of room to relax and enjoy themselves.
As of right now, there is no room for extra game tables, chairs or couches in the Jewell parlor. The couches that are in there now are so terrible that they should be thrown away anyway, which will give space for more couches or a game table. Even if there are no ping pong tables or pianos…at least we’ll have a usable couch.