My name is Betsy Thompson. I am a junior at Iowa State University, and I’m the president of Barker House, a floor in the ISU dorms. It is with great concern that I write this letter. It is being written not only as my voice, but also as a voice of all the residents I represent.

It has recently been brought to our attention that the ISU DOR plans to implement a new policy for the next school year. They want the residence hall associations closest to campus (UDA and RCA) to be made up of 75% freshmen and 25% upperclassmen (sophomores and older). They want to then “offer an alternative” to those upperclassmen that will essentially be kicked out as a result of this policy. They want to either move us out to Towers or Fredrickson Court. Both of these options are more expensive & farther away from campus. This is NOT an option for the residents of Barker House. In order for you to understand why, you must know my floor.

Barker House is a co-ed, dry house. We are perhaps the most diverse group of people ever to have lived together and actually enjoyed it. There are Christians and Atheists, jocks and nerds, shy and loud people. These people love Barker as well as the residents within the walls of Barker. If we didn’t feel this way, we wouldn’t be so adamant about staying. We are a family in all senses of the word. And we’re an active and close-knit family. If you came to visit us you might see a few things that might strike you as odd for a dorm floor. You might see us eating lunch or dinner together (20-30 people) or playing intramural games or perhaps you will see us twirling lawn chairs in the VEISHEA parade or cleaning College Creek which runs by our home. Maybe you’d run into us while we are practicing our skit for the Varieties Show or taking disadvantaged kids to a basketball game. If you dared venture into a college campus at 2 AM you would probably find a group of students talking politics or religion or class work in our parlor. These are all things you CAN see now if you were to visit us. Next year, if the DOR gets its way, you won’t see this. Our community, our traditions, our family will be split up. We will no longer be able to exist as Barker House has existed for years.

I am the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m growing into the woman I want to be, a woman you would be proud to call your daughter. I owe a lot of that to the community of Barker House. I came to Barker as a quiet, shy, reserved, scared freshman, not knowing how I fit into the world. I’ve grown and changed and matured in the past 2.5 years. The people in Barker made that difference. Those students who were juniors or seniors when I was a freshman let me know it was okay to be myself. There was not and still is not judgment or criticism. It was imperative in my development to have those older kids to show me the way and then let me fly on my own. Now that it is my turn to do the same thing for a freshman, the DOR wants to take that away.

We don’t want to leave. We love where we live; we love the people which whom we live; we love who we’ve become while living here. The best and most important things in college are learned outside the classroom walls. The best education I’ve received here at Iowa State is at risk of being lost because of some policy that has no basis on what the students want. Please hear our voices and help us stay in the place we call home. We are your future, but in order to become a successful future, we need the love and support and freedom that Barker offers us now. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Betsy Thompson

Barker House President

109 Lyon Barker

Ames, IA 50011-0013

(515) 572-0964

bjthomp@iastate.edu