One of the primary focuses of the commons system was to improve the advising experience at Middlebury. Most students, faculty and staff agree that this has been the most successful aspect of the system.
Today, incoming students select a first-year seminar. Most often this selection determines the commons they enter, though the students do not know beforehand which seminar corresponds with which commons. The commons are balanced by academic interest, meaning that science seminars and humanities seminars are evenly distributed among commons.
The faculty member who teaches the first-year seminar is the academic advisor to the students in his class until they pick a major advisor at the end of their sophomore year.
In addition to the faculty advisor, students have a close relationship with the dean of their commons. As a result of the report, the residential life office and the dean's office ceased to exist, as their functions are now wrapped into the administration of each of the five commons.
Spears said, ``Students have come to appreciate [the advising]; it's the most popular part of the commons system.'' Goodwin said that first-year seminars bring the conversation from classrooms back to the dorms.
Students who spoke with the Record were unanimously supportive of the decentralized dean's office. Goodwin agreed that the commons work well for advising, saying that students feel comfortable talking informally with their dean in addition to going to him or her for academic reasons.
Spears, who is also a professor of American literature, said the faculty sees a clear benefit to being part of the commons. The symbolic faculty heads of each commons live in college housing near their commons. They often invite students to come to their homes for dinner and conversation following lectures, sometimes several times each week.
``The commons help integrate faculty with students in a non-evaluative way,'' said Nick Campofranco, a junior and co-chair of Wonnacott Commons. While faculty members are present at commons events, Spears said that professors ``are not woven into students' everyday lives -- that hasn't happened.''
White also said that other commons employees have developed closer relationships with students, including custodians, who now have a much better rapport with students. When first-years arrive on campus, deans, residential staff, advisors and custodians for their commons greet them and help them move in.