I chose this location at JMU because it exemplifies the expansion that JMU has going on. This place is the Rockingham Dorms and it is located off-campus. It is mainly used for those students who transfer to JMU and have nowhere to live. This building is just one of the reasons that the so called “townees” hate the school and its students. They feel like JMU is expanding way too much and taking over their city. JMU has already taken over the hospital and now with this dorm, they have taken over what used to be a motel. It used to be intended for people who wanted to visit Harrisonburg and stay a couple of nights, but since JMU’s student population is growing, it is now used for those students who need housing their first year.
Although it is still being used as a place to stay in, its overall design is not meant to be a dorm. It still has a motel feeling due to its location and in order for it to become more of a JMU place, the school itself needs to do a lot of work to make the residents feel as if they are getting the true dorm life of JMU. When I finally graduate this school, it will not really carry any memories for me. The only think it will represent for me is the fact that is just another step in the overall growth of James Madison University.
Tiffany Crosby's comment for Dr. H.
ReplyDeleteI think this picture and caption is very good in raising the question of space within the JMU community. I would also like to add that when I look at this picture, I find it not only a representation of the expansion of JMU but also an ironic depiction. This picture is ironic to me because it is a dorm that is located off-campus but JMU uses it for on-campus housing. I know that the reason it is being used is because JMU has bought it, but it is not like the other dorms. The whole purpose of living on campus is to actually live on campus. Therefore, the Rockingham dorm holds an interesting place in the JMU community. Obviously, it was not meant to be used as a dorm, but as a motel for the Harrisonburg community. It is a representation of the imposing forces that JMU may have on the community of Harrisonburg. The way space is used is not always how it is intended, but can be altered in order to take away from the needs of a community such as Harrisonburg, or add to the needs of a community such as JMU.
The Rockingham dorms have a series of complications that color the way residents look at them.
ReplyDeleteIt is a clear departure from the standards that dorms on campus have established. Many elements are lacking, and its location keeps Rockingham from being truly a part of the campus atmosphere.
As a building, it does not serve any sort of social function. This is understandable as its previous role as a hotel emphasis privacy and not the social elements seen in many other dorms.
It's sheer distance from campus also discourages the casual stop by approach to socializing that defines college interactions.
There are many other dimensions that living in Rockingham impacts, but the social one may be the most notable.
What I like about this picture is the angle at which it was taken. I like how it looks like the dorm keeps going back, showing how big the dorm is. I think the way JMU took over the old hotel shows how it's transforming and taking over the Harrisonburg community. I don't think the dorm being off "campus" makes a difference really in social interactions. The dorms on campus as well as the off campus communities have their own little individual communities and the dorm is big enough so it wouldn't hinder any social interactions the occupants might encounter. Transforming the hotel into a dorm was a productive way to allow sophomores to live "off campus" so they get a different kind of style of living than if they had been in a dorm on campus for another year.
ReplyDeleteMegan Becker, Dr. H