By Simon Levine

Fine Arts House and Vegetarian House will be reinstated next semester, but Culinary Arts House will no longer be a theme house.

Sophomore Joel Hogel, a resident of Culinary Arts House said, “It is not going to be reinstated because we have not had any events.”

When asked why there were not any events, Hogel said, “I think all four of us [residents] are pretty busy people.” He also added that the house’s low number of inhabitants made it difficult to put on events regularly.

In contrast, Fine Arts House received a full vote of confidence to be reinstated as a theme house next semester.

Fine Arts house, which occupies Woodman House, supports the fine arts by hosting events and providing logistical support to the community, according to its founders.
Convenor August Chiarella, sophomore, explained that Fine Art House’s goal is to be a space where people can come to do art.

“We have bands practicing here,” Chiarella said. “The Funkaholics are practicing in our attic.”
Chiarella also hoped that the space would become a gathering point for artists within the community.

However, Chiarella also tempered this call to artists in the community, adding, “We want it to be a social place, but it is also a place where we live and cook meals.” Fine Arts House has hosted several potlucks, open mics, faculty dinners and a general art exhibition, as well as an “art battle” last semester.

For theme houses like Culinary Arts House or Fine Arts House, there is a long petition process that requires a faculty advisor and a statement of purpose, among other things. The theme must go through a provisional year before it is considered for reinstatement, the first step to long-term existence.

As Assistant Director of Residence Life Jerrod Hodge defined it, a provisional year is for homes to “find their direction and fit in.” Houses that do not put on events or do not find support within the community will not be reinstated and will cease to be a theme.
“When we make theme houses,” Hodge said, “We put it out to the community to decide if this is a theme that they want or not.”

The other house to be reinstated was Vegetarian House, which occupies Marmon House. After some confusion over the size of the house, there is still doubt over what space it will occupy next year.
Co-convenor of Vegetarian House Grace Huang, sophomore, said, “A house of this size can be difficult to organize.”

However, Huang is optimistic for the future of the house. “We’re looking to do a lot more events this semester,” she said.

Huang and co-convenor Shannon Egan, junior, took the helm after a first semester that saw several community potlucks, as well as events done in conduit with Earlham Animal Advocates. Huang, who edited the proposal for Vegetarian House, also co-convened first semester with junior Donnie Smith. Smith was the writer of the first proposal and was co-convenor last semester before going abroad to London this semester.

“The person who was really instrumental was Donnie Smith,” said senior Vegetarian House resident Benjamin Davidow about the founding of Vegetarian House. Davidow is the co-founder of Earlham Animal Advocates and helped Huang and Smith to write the proposal for the theme house.

Davidow decided not to convene because, he said, “the skill set involved in getting a house approved is much different than the skill set in day to day running of the house.”

In Davidow’s opinion Vegetarian House deserved to be reinstated because it ran a large number of dinners and potlucks.

Friendship and Theme House applications for the 2010-2011 academic year are due on Monday, Feb. 15 at noon.