Project house aims to create allergyfriendly environment

By Conrad Dahm dahmconr@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell College Department of Residence Life approved a new project house for students to live in for the 2023-2024 academic year. This as-of-yet unnamed project house is targeted toward students’ dietary restrictions or allergies. The next-year residents have already been selected.

A project house, according to Dennis Perkins, assistant dean of Residence Life and student conduct, is an off-campus house affiliated with the College that provides a certain theme to live in. “Students really come up with the idea,” Perkins said. He explained further that after coming up with an idea, students pitch the idea to staff who work with students to create the house.

Before this project house existed, Perkins said students came up with the idea of Food House around four years ago. “Students wanted a space where they could prepare and talk about meals,” Perkins said.

Food House will not continue in the upcoming academic year. Perkins explained there were multiple reasons that this decision was made, but he said overall, “I just believed it was no longer compatible for all the people to be there.”

According to Kelly Banfield `24, who lived in the house last year and for part of this year, Food House allowed students to cook food whenever they wanted. “We could cook whenever we wanted, and oftentimes we shared, so there was always something to eat,” Banfield said. According to Perkins, Food House did not particularly cater to students with allergies or dietary restrictions, but this new project house will.

The house coordinator for the new project, Bella Villarreal `26, explained that the purpose of this new house is to have a safe space for people who have food allergies or dietary restrictions.

She also said she believes that “Cross-contamination is a big issue in D-Hall.”

Villarreal also explained that the house will provide a kitchen where “everyone is respectful of each other and that is also consistently a safe space.” She explained that after the application was sent out by Residence Life, some of the students who applied were selected and then notified of the decision. Those students then had the option to live in the house for the next year or live elsewhere.

One student living in the house next year is Mara Feirer `26.

“I am excited because I don’t want to live in a dorm,” Feirer said. One of Ferirer’s primary concerns was the price of a meal plan that she could not utilize as someone with a gluten intol- erance. “I’m frustrated that you have to pay for a primary meal plan when we live on campus because that meal plan does not really serve my needs,” explained Feirer. She said further that, “It’s frustrating to me that I have to pay for food that won’t necessarily be safe for me to eat.” resources.

The project began in 2018 when Autumn Wilke, associate chief diversity officer for disability resources and current advisor for the DCC, along with Eliza Willis, professor emeritus of political science, and Maya Larson `22, submitted an application to the innovation fund, which supports ideas for project proposals at Grinnell College to improve education and campus life, to explore what having a DCC on campus could be like.

By exploring other cultural centers on campus such as the Black Cultural Center (BCC) and Stonewall Resource Center (SRC), as well as touring DCCs at Stanford, Berkeley and other schools, Wilke said they started thinking about what makes each of them a cultural center and how they can mirror that model.

Although Wilke said the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the development of the DCC, the group got back on track this year. The initial focus of the innovation grant was to see if Grinnell would benefit from a disability cultural center in general.

Belsher talked to Grinnell College alumni to get a sense of what disability culture was like for them.

“Knowing how happy it made them when they found any amount of disability culture … [the DCC] could be a hub for people with disabilities who are going and doing awesome things,” Belsher said.

After accessing the need for a DCC on campus, Wilke said the executive officers started visioning what they wanted this space to be. Belsher said the DCC is a place for people to find their identity within the disability community.

“There’s a lot of resources for people with disabilities in terms of social and career development. Things that help disabled people survive a little better and feel better in the world … the goal is for disability to not be othered,” Belsher said.

Ariana Furlong `24, DCC executive operations officer, said the most important element of the space is adjustability.

“No two people who identify as disabled are the same. You have invisible disabilities, you have physical disabilities, and being able to morph the space to accommodate everybody should be the goal,” Furlong said. Furlong also described the types of accommodations available at the center, including adjustable lighting and movable furniture. Feedback can be provided by filling out surveys through a QR code in the center or by emailing dcc@grinnell.edu.

Overall, the student officers said they want the space to feel comfortable for everyone. “My hope is that it will feel homey, but like an accessible version of homey … I go here, and I feel like I have a space that’s for me,” Belsher said.

The center started a weekly series called “Working With Ableism,” on Fridays from 12-1 p.m. in the Humanities and Social Studies Center room S1325, which are information sessions about educating others about ableism, how to respect those with disabilities and career development. On Mondays from 5-6 p.m., the DCC will also be hosting disability discussions.

Unlike other on-campus housing, students living in project houses have the option to opt out of the meal plan.

Feirer said, “I think it would be cool to live with other people who have similar concerns because, you know, community of similar experiences. It’s nice to have that support on campus.”

Villarreal added, “I really do want it to be an open kitchen that people can come cook in and share meals in.”

“We are hoping for that to be kind of geared toward people who are more established in the community or who are wanting to become involved,” Belsher said.

Since the space started with an innovation grant, the future of the space is unknown. However, Belsher, Furlong and Wilke emphasized their commitment to making sure the space remains permanent in some form.

“I think it would be amazing to have a permanent space where those who are disabled on campus feel like they can be themselves. I think right now we’re at a great starting point because we’ve gone years without having a space and we’re finally getting one. Even if it’s temporary, I’m very thrilled,” Furlong said.