Honors student housing transitions from York to Finch
Effective next year for the incoming class of 2021, all first and second-year honors students will be required to live in Finch Hall. Photo by: Alexis Ancel
By Alexis Ancel// News Editor
High Point University faculty and staff members are constantly working to improve all areas of education and academic programs.
The honors program in particular is currently undergoing a number of changes that aim to transform and strengthen the group dynamic of the honors program as a whole. Though many aspects of the honors curriculum are being reformed, one of the most prominent changes to the program is the housing transition from York Hall to Finch Hall.
Introduced two years ago, The Common Experience curriculum made an impact on many academic programs, particularly the honors program.
“When we started the common experience, we saw the power of in-residence programming connected to academics,” said Dr. Bill Carpenter, director of the honors program. “Now we have a chance to tie the honors curriculum to that residential programming.”
A variety of factors were considered throughout this decision-making process. Finch was largely chosen as the ideal honors dorm for its size, setup and central location on campus. The primary goal of this move is to give the honors students a common living space that fosters a more close-knit community in a location that is central to the academic part of campus.
“We have a desire to strengthen the honors program in a way that I think will be more rewarding for the students who are a part of it,” Carpenter said.
There are also many logistical benefits to this move, particularly for the honors salon program lead by Faculty-in-Residence Dr. Jacob Paul. Meetings are currently held on the fourth floor of York, which creates several logistical issues in terms of access and convenience.
“It will move the public spaces of the honors program to spaces that can actually be public,” Carpenter said.
Being able to offer honors students tier one housing was also
important in this reform. “York comes at a premium,” said Paul. “Our honors students don’t always have the capacity to pay that premium which has been a source of real trouble.”
With tier one housing, this is no longer an issue and all honors students will be able to live in the same dorm.
Additionally, a benefit of Finch is that it will exclusively be an honors dorm, whereas currently, students can still live in York without being a member of the honors program. “[York] doesn’t have the same feel as an all-honors hall would,” said Carpenter.
However, the top floor of York will still be reserved as an all-honors floor, so honors students still have the option to live in York for their junior and senior year.
The housing transition also plays a huge role in the changes to the honors curriculum. First-year honors students will be taking many of the same general education classes together, which Finch itself will play a role in. Plans are in the works to add offices and a seminar room to the first floor of the building so that honors classes can be held in Finch as well.
“A lot of it is based around offering a third space both physically and culturally for individual expression and engagement,” Paul said.
Talk of this transition began about a year and a half ago, but many decisions are still being made with the help of current honors students about what to do with the space. Though the building has some structural limitations, Finch will likely undergo many changes before next year’s first-year honors students move in.
“It’s not a move designed to just make administrative stuff easier,” Carpenter said. “In fact, it makes some administrative work a little more complicated for us. But it does speak to some education practices that are innovative and well supported by research.”
Though students have had mixed responses, the administration team continues to make improvements so that this transition can go as smoothly as possible.
“We are really trying to make good on our desire to present a holistic education,” Carpenter said. “We see this move as a way of forming some really interesting and productive connections between academic and residence life.”