Keeney Quadrangle by Jamal and Jamie

Keeney Quadrangle

Providing “a dignified and happy home for the independents” (The man, the myth, the legend: Barnaby Keeney)

The stately facade of Keeney is effective in masking its drab interior. The 4 arched entryways, fronted by benches, long brick walkways and a well manicured landscape, serve as a welcoming, engaging approach at the ground level properly located on a street called benevolent. On all other sides the quadrangle is gated and raised above ground with 3 entrances atop staircases evenly spaced between the fencing on Charlesfield. It gives one the impression of a gated community projecting an aura of ivy league exclusiveness, sophistication, charm, to the outside community. The inside community is privy to the knowledge that it contrasts sharply with austerity of its interior.

The seemingly endless hallways, cold dimly lit paths within the maze, appear to work against the sense of communities within a community the RPLs of the building attempt to create. Five floors in each of the six connected houses: Walter Goodnow Everett, Walter Cochrane Bronson, John Franklin Jameson, Albert Davis Mead, Raymond Clare Archibald, and William Carey Poland. One third of the freshman class resides here. A space originally intended to house no more than 585 students is now inhabited by 655 people. Lounge and kitchen spaces have turned private to accommodate extra students in the face of overcrowding. This overcrowding caused my the admission of more students this year than ever for fear many students deferring to other schools. The student surplus does not cause to University to let more students live off-campus. Instead, former public spaces have turned private in the name of the financial security. Once the central meeting spaces of the halls --- one on each floor all six --- are now spacious doubles with kitchens for incoming freshman. Within this difficult to navigate maze that is Keeney, are scattered remaining lounges and study spaces tucked away in secret, not meant for the larger brown community.

Upon entering through the door into Archibald house, you see a door on the far side. A sign on the door has a poster of a Unit theme and the names of the students living in this room. The next door is the same, with different names. And the next door, and the next door… All rooms have the same “amenities”

A bed (11.5 inches clearance from the floor) with twin extralong mattress and pillow

A desk and chair

A bookcase

A dresser

A built-in closet

A wastebasket

A recycling bin (shared between roommates)

General room lighting

Having lived here before, I know exactly what is in these rooms. I know the name of the person living here. Walking through the halls, one runs into distinct smells in front of some rooms. White boards are littered with inside jokes, quotes, and the like. With so much information available to me, I can imagine what is inside of these rooms but never actually know. It all feels so familiar. I can identify with this door, unto it I’m able to map my own residential experiences.

The "Imagined" of Keeney Quadrangle

Perhaps what is most peculiar about the culture of Keeney and the culture of dorm life in general at Brown University is the imagined safety of such a dorm. Keeney is open yet closed (not unlike Anderson's nation-state); as stated, there are six corridors in the quadrangle with every resident allowed the card access to every door of the massive building. Unlike other dorms, no one has card access to Keeney unless one is a resident of that dorm hall. Once one swipes into the dorm, each room has a door that locks when closed, unless the lock has been tampered with. Many students adjust the lock so that their door stays open all the time and even more students hold the doors open to the outside when someone wants to walk in behind him or her. Why do freshmen students imagine some sort of safety through this system? Moreover, each freshman lives in a double with an assigned roommate by Residential life who is a complete stranger. A freshman is only asked five questions when he/she is assigned a roommate, no where near enough questions to 'scan' for the safety of such a pairing. Does a Brown University freshman imagine the safety of ones personal and physical space because of the supposed shared identity of a freshmen (a class of +1400 meaning he or she will never meet everyone in his or her class) and Brown University as a whole?

Paglen discusses in his book that blank spots on the map create "blank spots in the law, institutionalizing dishonestly": Blank spots allow for rule breaking. The anonymity of Keeney and the lack of rule enforcement by the Residential Peer Leaders allows for the naturalization of rule breaking. I remember when I worked as a Residential Peer Leader, I was told not to worry about underage drinking and marijuana use in the dorm and to only make sure that it didn't occur in the hallways. Similarly when Jamal and I walked down the Keeney corridor on a Thursday afternoon we smelled cannibis in the hallways. The Keeney corridor is in limbo, it is a living space on a college campus, in a city, Providence, in a state, Rhode Island, but because of its multiple locations at once and the naturalization of rule breaking it is able to exist off the map.