By Jacques Hacquebord, ’04
Lawrence Today magazine, Spring 2004
Jacques Hacquebord is president of the Lawrence University Community Council
(LUCC) and a resident of Hiett Hall. The following is excerpted from his remarks
at the October 2003 dedication ceremony for Lawrence's newest residence hall.
You may be expecting that I will tell you all the wonderful things about Hiett
Hall. However, I’m going to take a slightly different approach, and I’d
like to start with all the things that I and many of my fellow residents dislike
about this building.
First of all, the rooms are way too big. College dorms are meant to be cluttered
and grossly disorganized, due to a severe lack of space. However, these rooms
are too large, just too large for us to fill them with clutter.
Secondly, why does my room have only one shower? I mean, this isn’t camp,
folks; we want a shower in every room.
The third problem that we have with Hiett Hall is the fact that it is just too
nice. Now students from all around campus, even though they don’t live
here, come to Hiett Hall and they do their laundry and they hold meetings and
they study and they watch cable on our television. If only it weren’t so
nice, then Hiett residents would not be pestered by residents of other buildings
coming here all the time.
Finally, we wish that we could have a clear view of noisy and uninteresting College
Avenue, like many other Lawrence residences. Instead, we have to put up with
the peaceful view of the river and, in place of watching townies cruise up and
down the Avenue in their cars that are heavily laden with obscenely large spoilers,
my roommates and I are forced to sit on the recliners facing our bay windows
and watch the girls’ tennis team practice. . . .
In all seriousness, Hiett Hall has done more to improve student life than I ever
imagined it could. Hiett has single-handedly made students desire to live on
campus more than ever before.
I am so thankful for Hiett Hall and for what it has done to improve Lawrence — more
specifically, to improve student life — something that students have not
felt has been a big priority here at Lawrence.
Trustees of Lawrence, and especially Kim Hiett Jordan, I and the rest of the
students would like to thank you for everything you have done to make Hiett Hall
a reality. This is the best thing that has happened to Lawrence in years. Already
we can see many of the wonderful things it has brought to campus, but only as
time passes will we truly see the blessings that it will bring.
Thank you very much. Enjoy your time in my home, and, if you get a chance, come
with me and entertain yourselves by watching the girls’ tennis team practicing.
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