Summer 2007 - Hood College

Summer 2007Hood Magazine 11A CampusTransformedDave Diehl M.B.A. ‘04, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications and Editor, Hood MagazineIn the four years since Hood College became fully coeducationalby allowing men to live on campus, the most dramatic changeshave not been from the infusion of the other gender into the residencehalls, but from the increase in the numbers of students whohave enrolled at Hood and who are living on campus.Consider these changes since 2002, the last year that Hood wasa residential college for women:■ The total student population at Hood grew from 1,693 to 2,248,or 33 percent;■ The number of entering freshmen increased from 179 to 278,or 55 percent;■ The undergraduate population increased by 55 percent;■ The number of undergraduate males went from 96 to 367,a 282 percent increase; and■ The number of students living on campus grew from 420 to itscapacity, 658, a 57 percent increase.Arguably the most dramatic of those statistics is the growth inthe population of residential students, now standing at 658. Thatincrease has resulted in many changes—many of which are discussedby the faculty, students and staff in the following articles.Certainly, the social fabric of the campus has changed demonstrablywith the addition of men living in the residence halls, whomake up about a third of that population. But that which is moststriking to those who have witnessed changes in the years since2002 is the effect that more students in the classrooms, on theathletic fields, in clubs and organizations, and in the residencehalls has had on the Hood College environment and collectivepsyche.In the stories that follow, we have tried to illustrate andexplain—through those who have helped to make the changes,those whose daily lives are affected by the changes and those whohave witnessed the changes—what the Hood College campus islike today.These are unfinished stories because, as we go to press with thisissue of Hood Magazine, the fall 2007 enrollment looks like it willagain be at a record high.470 + 188 = inw o m e nm e nUndergraduates who livethe residence halls