I was eating at the Union Drive Community Center with a friend from Frederiksen Court the other day. Amidst the bustle of the dining hall, with freshmen running around in their “Senior Class ’03” shirts and complaining about parents and significant others back home, she sighed and said, “I feel so old when I eat here.”

She’s a 20-year-old junior.

I still live in the dorms, but as a sophomore, I know what she means. Residence hall life, and the dorms, the dining halls, study lounges and computer labs that define it really are a freshman experience. The dorms, with their careful organization and cultivated and palpable sense of community are tailor-made for first-year students. They’re a midpoint between dependent and independent living — a place to learn how to live on your own, but with plenty of support and no rent to worry about. They’re where learn how to budget your time between studying and partying, and to schedule your meals without having to prepare them. They are the place to meet new people and find commonalities with those around you. Dorms are the epitome of students first year of independence, and this is becoming even more true as the university further implements the Fresh Start Program.

But despite all these things, which should appeal only to 18-year-olds straight out of high school, there are people in the dorms who are well past 20 or 21. There are among us, in the dorms across campus, people old enough to be the parents of typical and rightful residents.

There is something very wrong with this.

The dorms cater specifically to young people, so why would a person in his or her 40s or 50s ever choose to live in a residence hall, and why does the university allow it?

I can’t help but wonder about the motivations of people choosing to live in such close quarters with several hundred loud, obnoxious and impressionable students half their age. Do they think it’s the only way to live cheaply? Does proximity to campus mean that much to them? Or is it something more personal than that — are the dorms a way for them to be more “in touch” with the youth and university culture and to make new friends?

The dorms are certainly not significantly cheaper than living off campus, or even in a more suitable university facility such as University Village. A single room in Friley costs $3,940 for the academic year, or about $440 dollars a month. A one-bedroom apartment can easily be found near campus for that price. And if one chooses to live in an efficiency apartment or in a house with roommates, the cost could be even less. Living in University Village only costs $150 more per academic year than a dorm single.

If it’s not the cheap living, are the dorms’ close proximity to campus the motivation for these unusual students? Surely not, at least one such elder student lives at Towers, which is as far or farther from campus than many off-campus options. And no matter where a student lives, Cy-ride is free.

As for a person more than 40 years old moving into the dorms to be closer to the university’s youth culture, that sounds like either an extreme mid-life crisis or a bid for an academic year of cheap thrills at the expense of the rightful residents. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a baby-boomer returning to college, but attending classes and completing assignments should be the extent of the relationship between that person and the younger generation. There’s a great difference between sharing a classroom and sharing a shower stall.

One would think the Department of Residence would at least restrict older residents to single rooms, but this is not the case. There was already one case in Friley Hall this semester where first-year students were assigned a room with a student decades older than them. The arrangement lasted less than three weeks.

Imagine the awkwardness for a first-semester student moving into the dorms, only to discover his roommate is 50 years old. When such a situation arises, the freshman student involved is robbed of one of the defining experiences of college life. Instead of having a fellow freshman to share experiences with, he has a man old enough to be his father inhabiting his space. Instead of having the freedom to come and go as he pleases, the freshman is bound by the older person’s usually conservative schedule.

The Department of Residence should not allow students above average college age, perhaps 25, to live in the traditional residence halls. By their mid-20s, students certainly have accumulated enough experience and learned enough in the sheltered independence of the residence halls to live on their own. This is obviously true for 40-year-old returning students who have already lived in the “real world” for decades. A 40 year old should have the capability and desire to move on from dorm life. He should be concerned with mortgages and putting his children through college, not Dining Dollars and house meetings.

There is no justification for first- and second-year students being forced to live in such close quarters with someone old enough to be their parent. This situation is at best awkward and at worst dangerous.