Future of Oldenborg Center Uncertain Under New Proposal
By Logan Steiner
Staff Writer

If all goes according the Oldenborg Task Force Committee (OTFC) to Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations might not be used as a language dormitory in upcoming years. The current language sections might instead be replaced by a “village” of language houses and a common facility.

The OTFC was appointed last year by Dean of the College Gary Kates to evaluate Oldenborg’s role at Pomona.

The OTFC was comprised of five Pomona faculty members as well as Associate Dean Patricia Smiley and Director of Study Abroad Rhoda Borcherding. This committee first evaluated Oldenborg’s role at Pomona, and found that the dorm has three primary functions: it is Pomona’s only language residence hall, it is the sole international cultural exchange venue, and it is a primary international affairs center.

The committee then brought in four outside consultants to appraise the building’s function and role on campus. At the end of this process, the OTFC concluded that “the present physical facility, now nearly forty years old, will no longer allow any of Oldenborg’s three key functions to be performed in a manner befitting the premier West Coast liberal arts college.”

The committee’s report explained that “the physical design of the facility hinders the ease of human interaction needed to maintain an effective foreign language or cultural experience. Lounges are too small and awkwardly placed; single rooms opening onto narrow dark corridors hinder social interaction; and the lack of recognizable boundaries between sections results in ill-defined section identities.”

Current Oldenborg resident Gwyn Prater ’06 agreed that the design of Oldenborg creates a socially inhibiting atmosphere, “I feel like Oldenborg tends to suck people in. People don’t visit here very often. I don’t think it is very well laid out,” said Prater.

French hall resident Rachel Monroe ‘06 agreed, “I certainly get lost in my own dorm. Oldenborg is not very conducive to community.”

The OTFC report identified a potential solution to such problems. After the new natural science facilities have been constructed, and existing buildings have been renovated, the report recommended that Oldenborg be used as a generic dormitory. This would allow Pomona to facilitate the construction of a new “Global Village.”

The committee suggested that “each language have its own physically separate 'house' in order to create a proper target-language social environment.” These houses would be situated along one side of a common facility and plaza, creating a decentralized “village” atmosphere. The common facility that the OTFC envisioned would contain both a dining hall and a café, designed to appeal to the wider campus community.

Many current Oldenborg residents supported the idea of moving language sections into separate houses. Summer Gray ’06 thought distinctive houses would help.

"Right now I feel like there’s a very quiet social life here, and part of it is the way it is set up: each hall within a language is disconnected,” Gray said.

Russian hall resident Lily May ’06 agreed. “It seems like language houses could be really cool,” May said.

Other students, such as Oldenborg resident Kofi Domfeh ’06, disagreed.

“They should just add more to the current building, create more space in here,” said Domfeh.

South Campus Representative and Spanish hall resident Galen Benshoof ’06 reinforced this idea, “Just because Oldenborg’s a labyrinth doesn’t mean it is not functional as a language facility. I think the language residents and the separate lounges are really useful.”

French hall resident Ashley Berry ’06 did not feel the construction of separate language houses would serve the language program’s goals. “I don’t think that isolation of the languages is necessarily conducive to an optimal learning environment,” said Berry.

Dean of the College Gary Kates recently received the OTFC report and recommendations.

“We haven’t reached any fixed conclusions about the report’s recommendations regarding future construction. Right now our attention is focused on the search for a new director,” said Kates. Former Director of the Oldenborg Center Anne Bages announced her retirement in the Spring of 2002.

Associate Dean Patricia Smiley explained that the new director will work with the administration to revitalize the language and international affairs programs at Pomona. The director will supervise the facility, develop grant proposals, work with the administration to examine the committee's recommendations, and plan the future of Oldenborg.

Smiley felt that future plans “could well involve changes to the existing building or perhaps a different building.” She reinforced, however, that “building decisions require input from all ‘stakeholders;’--students, staff, faculty, executive staff and trustees.” According to Smiley no decisions will be made, until all of these groups have been consulted and a new Oldenborg director has been appointed.