Though the University could do better for its families and probably ought, the people calling for change rarely consider what could be lost in the process.

If the University built a larger place, there's no guarantee that the same sense of community that prevails at the Village would survive. If the Village were demolished and replaced by something like Fisher Graduate Residences, it would be a much different place. And even if they kept the same enlightened format of apartments surrounding an enclosed playground, the rent would almost certainly be higher.

In short, those who are asking for major changes assume that the administration is smart enough to redo the Village without ruining those things that make it great: the relatively cheap rent and the extraordinary sense of community. That is a big assumption.

Aaron Potter

Notre Dame Law School '01

Village Resident '98 to '01

January 18, 2002

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