Dorms
“Freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus, and since the construction of the Charles Commons, upperclassmen are also given the option of entering the housing lottery and a chance at living on campus. In theory, anyone who enters the lottery can live in any of the dorms, but given the difference in quality and dorm amenities, the choices tend to fall along class standing. Freshmen live in either the AMRs (Alumni Memorial Residences), Buildings A and B, or Wolman. The AMRs are the oldest dorms on campus. There are two buildings: AMR I and AMR II, located directly on the freshman quad. Each building is made up of houses named after prominent Hopkins Alumni (such as Woodrow Wilson). Each house shares three floors, and these houses participate in various planned activities organized by the RA. The rooms do not have air conditioning (which is particularly a problem at the beginning and end of the year, especially on the third floor), and residents share bathrooms at the end of the hall.
Most houses (save the one all-female house and one all-male house) are co-ed, though rooms and bathrooms are single-sex. The rooms range in size and are either single or double occupancy. Some are very large and others are extremely tiny; occasionally, single rooms will be larger than double rooms. Although the amenities aren't great, many people choose to live in these dorms because they are supposedly the most social. However, it really depends on what type of people live on a given floor and in a given house.
Buildings A and B, which are located behind the AMRs and above the Fresh Food Cafe, are suite-style living. Typically, this means there are two rooms connected by a short hall that share a bathroom. They do not have carpeting, but do have air-conditioning. Occasionally suites in A and B, due to excessive demand for housing, are turned into forced triples.
Wolman is the last building for freshman housing and is often filled with athletes because it offers vacation housing, which allows students to stay in the dorms during holidays and breaks. Like A and B, Wolman is also suite-style living, but the suites have a mini-kitchen with burners, a sink, and cabinets, in addition to the shared bathroom. Wolman offers the most amenities of the freshman housing options. The floors are carpeted and the rooms are air-conditioned. There are lounges with a TV and DVD/VCR on each floor, and as such, Wolman tends to be very social. The only detriment to living in Wolman is that it is not technically on campus, but in the dorm cluster across the street from the library. However, since the construction of Charles Commons, the Barnes & Noble Bookstore, and the revitalization of shops along St. Paul, just behind Wolman, it is a very busy, social, and convenient location.
Housing for upperclassmen is not as strictly defined as freshman housing is, because it depends entirely on the lottery system and where people want to live. Charles Commons is only two years old and one of the more popular choices. Made up entirely of suite-style rooms, residents can choose to live in either a double or a quad. In the doubles, there is one bathroom for the two single rooms to share and a small common kitchen with burners, a sink, and a mini-fridge, along with a table and chairs. In the quad there are two bathrooms, a kitchen with a large refrigerator, table and chairs, and a living room with a TV stand, couch, side tables, and a chair with an ottoman. The building itself has a small gym with treadmills, elliptical machines, bikes, a common kitchen with an oven, and Nolan's, one of the main dining halls on campus. There are also study rooms and lounges with a TV on each floor, and the building has a mailroom. Aside from going to class, students don’t really have to leave the building if they don’t want to.
McCoy Hall is another housing option that is popular with sophomores – only if that’s because it's picked last. It is very similar to Wolman with its suite-style living and a small kitchen. The rooms may be a little larger but the only other difference is that it has a small gym on the second floor. Other than that, McCoy is the same as Wolman. The one thing people can do when living in McCoy is find a bunch of people to live with (at least 16) and try to block off a floor.
Bradford and Homewood are the two apartment-style dorms on campus. Bradford is located one block down from Wolman and McCoy, while Homewood is farther away and somewhat removed from the campus and the main cluster of dorms and shops. Bradford is nine stories high while Homewood is six, and each contain studio, one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments available to students. Each contains a full kitchen, bathroom (sometimes two, depending on size), and living room. The studio is the only exception, consisting of one bedroom which also serves as the living room, plus the usual amenities. Bradford and Homewood are built in such a way that they're less communal than the suite-style or traditional dorms, as there are no real community/study rooms, and RAs do not typically organize events. Both buildings have laundry rooms in the basement and gyms in the building, though Bradford's ‘gym’ consists of a treadmill and elliptical alongside the washing machines. Homewood is considered the nicer of the two, as it offers much larger rooms and better facilities, though Bradford is popular for its convenience to campus, the bookstore, and the shops along St. Paul.”
— With special reporting by Jacqueline Murphy ‘10 and Jordan Wyndelts ’08
President
William R. Brody has been president of Johns Hopkins since September 1996, and will step down in December 2008. Prior to assuming his current leadership position, Brody was provost of the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota. During his term the university has built new residential, art, and recreational facilities and created new opportunities for undergraduates to take part in original research.
“Since Daniel Coit Gilman, the first president of the university, and namesake of the most notable building on campus, Gilman Hall, Johns Hopkins has had 12 other presidents and this will soon change to 13. It was recently announced that President Brody, a favorite among undergraduates, will be retiring in December 2008. The Brodys were a great part of the university. Each year, during move-in, they would bike, roller skate, scooter, and even travel on Segways around a line of cars. They would also stop and talk to parents, welcoming them to the Hopkins community.
The Brodys also chose to live in Nichols house, right in the middle of the Homewood (undergraduate) campus. This move demonstrated their appreciation and dedication to the undergraduate community. There are many stories of Hopkins students knocking on the Brody’s door as a joke or prank, only to be invited in to chat and have tea. They have also frequently attended lacrosse and basketball games, as well as various campus events such as Hopkins' Next Top Model and the Lighting of the Quad. Other past presidents include Milton S. Eisenhower (Dwight Eisenhower's youngest brother), Ira Remsen, a chemist who invited saccharin (the artificial sweetener), and Steven Muller who was not only president of the university, but the hospital as well.”
Brody received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MIT and his MD and PhD from Stanford University.
— With special reporting by Jacqueline Murphy ’10 and Jordan Wyndelts ’08
Famous Alumni
John Astin (1952) played Gomez on the original hit TV show The Addams Family. Astin remains a professor at Hopkins and is very involved in the theater department.
Russell Baker (1947) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, best known for his autobiography, Growing Up.
Michael Bloomberg (1964) is mayor of New York City and founder of financial information company Bloomberg L.P.
Michael Griffin (1971) is the current administrator of NASA.
Donald Munson (1968) is a state senator representing Maryland’s second district, which includes Washington County.
