During move-in week ’19, we asked UI faculty members to tell us a story about their own experience of leaving home for the first time. Here’s Ohio U grad Ron Jacobs, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership in the College of Education.
“I was a freshman at Bowling Green in 1969, and was greeted by the informal dorm culture right away during move-in day.
“In those days, dorms were more like a military barracks than today’s really nice accommodations. Back then, three freshmen were assigned to a relatively small room, which included three small dressers, desks and chairs, and bunk beds.
“The dorm culture was that the first person who arrived got the pick of the furniture. Naturally, the first person who arrived claimed the single bunk, the prized sleeping location. Unfortunately, I was the last to arrive, and was relegated to the lower bunk, with a bunk on top of me, an arrangement I had never experienced before.
“Welcome to college and the informal culture of dorm life.”
