Milton Hall legacy lives on with new students
Though dorm life definitely has its drawbacks, the friends made and experiences had are worth the discomfort at times.
COMMENTARY
Jeff Dennis

Milton Daniel Hall ... The Dungeon.

Around campus, these words are likely to cause many to draw back in fear or disgust. Reactions range from “That place smells horrible” to “It looks like Army barracks on the inside.” If you’ve lived there, or near there, you know what the dungeon is, and hopefully have enough pride to defend it from time to time against these slanderous attacks.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Milton Daniel is a men’s residence hall on campus, and the “Dungeon” is the name given to the basement floor, the place where I resided during my freshman year at TCU.

Dorm life in Milton Daniel was not always the most pleasant experience, from freezing showers to freezing rooms in the winter, but I didn’t choose the dorm because I thought it was going to be a resort. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect of it prior to moving in, but I am very glad that I spent my first year in this dorm whose name is somewhat infamous around campus.

Some of my best friends at TCU are still the guys who lived in close proximity to me in my year in the Dungeon. We didn’t become friends because we all had the same interests. We built friendships out of being around each other for a year and going through the various experiences that accompany freshman life.

Dorm life can be frustrating. At first, it seems that there is no one you can relate to. However, you soon find that you are not all that different. Through the course of a year you, or the people around you, are likely to have some sort of relationship problems, roommate disputes or maybe even a little homesickness, but there’s almost always someone around who will listen.

It’s good to be able to go across the hall and chill out in a friend’s room after your roommate throws your phone against the wall so hard that it bounces into your lap on the other side of the room. Clearly I speak from experience on this one.

Dorms provide a relaxed environment where everyone can be him or herself. You don’t have to worry about competing with your living mates for grades or honors or elected positions. They are just people with problems like yours who would probably be glad to unload a few issues of their own on you.

I hear talk around campus that Milton Daniel will be renovated in the next few years, which hopefully will be good to erase some of the bad names it gets based simply on appearance. My freshman dorm life helped me to have the great college experience I have had so far. I almost wish I could move back. Almost.

Jeff Dennis is a senior sociology major from Gail.