Don't cut our roots

The University's plan to distribute diplomas in the residential colleges this year reflects the importance it attaches to the communities that students and staff form in these colleges. It seems odd, then, that some upperclassmen who choose to continue to live in residential colleges after sophomore year are required to give up their initial college affiliations.

When juniors leave their two-year residential college to join four-year ones, their college affiliations also change. From intramural teams to academic advising to diplomas, former Rockeyites, for example, are transformed into Matheyites. Given that students may perceive this metamorphosis as anything from a minor hassle to an existential crisis, upperclassmen who draw into four-year colleges should be allowed to decide whether to maintain an affiliation with the college of their underclass years.

Many of the upperclassmen who choose to remain in the residential college system are the ones who have built the strongest relationships with students and administrators in their college. The University has managed a strange reversal of fortune by forcing students who have formed the tightest bonds with their colleges to forsake them while arranging for their peers who opt out of the college system and join clubs to effortlessly retain their underclass affiliation.

Upperclassmen should be able to join a four-year residential college without being required to sever their ties to their former college. Why deprive a student of the right to be advised by someone with whom they have developed strong relationships during the course of their formative first years on campus?

Some may argue that such a split allegiance would be detrimental to the residential college community. But the ability for students to retain ties to their first college should not detract from their ability to fully participate in the life of their new college. Students can receive their University diplomas at Forbes while still participating in the many activities offered at Whitman College. In fact, such a system would likely encourage broader interaction among paired colleges and a further integration of the Princeton community.

It is good that students feel reluctant to give up their original college communities because it suggests that many students are finding the residential college community a valuable component of their Princeton experience. As more students choose to stay in the college system for their entire undergraduate careers, all upperclassmen should be given the same right to retain their affiliation with their original college communities.