The following is an opinion article and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Tulane Hullabaloo.

Tulane is embarking on a campaign to construct multiple new residence halls on its Uptown campus. According to recent press releases, there are two more residence halls being built on campus, not including Barbara Greenbaum House at Newcomb Lawn, which will open this fall. As stated in a recent Hullabaloo article that highlighted these changes, Tulane plans to increase its capacity so that 80 percent of the undergraduate population can be housed on campus. This will pose a challenge as many students enjoy living off campus, especially since moving off campus usually means students will be living in their own rooms. While living off campus is an important experience, upperclassmen students should have the option of a getting a room to themselves on campus as well. Having your own room is desirable, critical to maturing and is essential by junior year.  

The benefits of having a single room cannot be understated. The increased privacy is invaluable, especially as students begin to take more rigorous classes. The only drawback to having a single room is the decline in social opportunities. Socialization, however, can be enhanced by the environment apartment-style buildings such as Aron Residences provide. Drawbacks to doubles are numerous and include forgone privacy, coordinating sleeping times and disregarding the general need to be alone every once in a while. Furthermore, by junior and senior year, many people are building more intimate relationships, which becomes enormously difficult to plan around when two people share the same room.

Housing has expressed a desire to listen, and Bryan said that Tulane will have to construct additional halls to accommodate students. This implies building more singles if the students ask for it, and making residence halls with more singles built in the apartment style. Aron residential hall  is very popular among students, and many upperclassmen who live on campus reside there. Benefits to the apartment style include providing a very small community of people who will get to know each other, allowing students to learn how to cook on their own and learn how to keep a large shared space clean.

Yet, if Tulane wishes to house the vast majority of its undergraduates on campus, building new apartment-style residence halls, primarily made of singles, will not only be a luxury, it will be a necessity.

Carl Vidrine is a junior in the Newcomb-Tulane College. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].