While the houses have mostly remained the same at Phillips Academy, the housing system certainly has not through the years. Today’s housing system is built around an All-School lottery, but Phillips Academy used to have a housing system in which priority was given to honor roll students. Nicholas Kip ’60, Instructor in Classics, said that while he was a student at PA, only about a dozen students made it to the “first honor roll.” These students would have first priority, while “second honor roll” students would have second priority. Kip said that first and second honor rolls existed when grades were administered on a zero to 100 grading scale. First honor roll indicated an average of 87.5 percent or higher, and second honor roll students averaged 82.5 percent or higher. “There were so few first honor roll kids that they almost always go their first choice of rooms,” said Kip. Victor Henningsen ’69, Instructor in History, said that the honor roll preference system was replaced a few years after his Andover graduation. The school also organized dormitories by class, before the current system of Junior-only and integrated upperclassmen dormitories replaced the old system from the 1970s. Ruth Quattlebaum, School Archivist, said, “We have had Junior-only dorms for a long time, back into at least the ’40s. And class dorms date back as well. We moved to integrated housing with the introduction of the cluster system in the early ’70s.” Popular dorm locations have not significantly changed over the years. “Flagstaff dorms were always coveted, and all the Seniors during my time lived there. It was considered a Senior privilege,” said Kip. “The dormitories farthest away [from campus] were the Junior dormitories.” Henningsen said that when he was an Andover student, most Juniors lived in Rockwell, most Lowers lived in the West Quads, most Uppers lived in Flagstaff and Seniors lived in the Rabbit Pond area, which Andover students fondly dubbed “Senior City.” Henningsen added that his classmates generally wanted to live in the West Quads, and Adams was the most popular dormitory. “Adams was regarded as the nicest of the West Quad dorms, [the] most recently renovated [at that time.] All the honor roll kids chose [to live there],” said Henningsen. House counselor preferences often influenced dorm popularity as well. Henningsen that certain faculty members were more popular among students than others, and students found other faculty members to be hands-off, a positive quality. Henningsen said he believes the role of house counselors in dormitories has shifted since he attended PA. “Even when I first came back to teach, house counselors were still called house masters. The dorm was pretty much yours to run—there were no complement house counselors,” he said. “[The role of the house counselor] basically predicated upon the notion that boys needed supervision, not counseling. There was more of a ringmaster aspect to it,” he continued. “I really enjoyed the independence aspect when I was first running a dormitory,” Henningsen said. “It was sink-or-swim for house counselors.” Quattlebaum said, “The ratio of students to house counselors in a dormitory has decreased. When I was a house counselor in Paul Revere, there were only two house counselors and each house counselor was in charge of 26 students.” He continued, “Now, there are four house counselors living in Paul Revere. The ability to get to know a student [in your dormitory] better increases as the ratio decreases.” Dorms did not have proctors or prefects until the early or mid 1980s, said Quattlebaum. According to Kip’s recollection of his school life, both prefects and proctors were called proctors. “Only Seniors served as proctors, and there were no proctors in Upper or Senior dormitories,” said Kip. “I feel that now [the administration] puts more energy into training [prefects and proctors]. However, the rules were much more rigid in the old days, so [proctors] did not need as much training.” Kip also believes that it was much more competitive to become a proctor in the past, as being a proctor was a better “college pull” in the past than it is today. Kip recalled that when G. Greenville Benedict served as Dean of Students, this was especially true. “Mr. Benedict did the jobs now done by the Dean of Studies, Dean of Students, all the cluster deans and College Counseling — you can see why he commanded so much respect, not just at Andover but in the world of private schools and colleges in general. It may be a slight exaggeration to say his recommendation pretty much guaranteed a ticket to a first-choice college, but that was the students’ perception, and in my recollection, it was pretty much true,” wrote Kip. Proctors only served in Junior and Lower dormitories, according to Henningsen. “Becoming a proctor [during my time as a student], particularly for a Junior dormitory, was an honor,” said Henningsen. “The proctor’s job was to give guidance, advice and a little bit of control without being obnoxious about it.” Kip agreed with Henningsen’s description of a proctor. “The personal aspect [of being a proctor or a prefect] has not changed much over the years,” said Kip. “While I was a Flagstaff cluster dean, I thought proctors didn’t make much a difference [in those days.] However, prefects were and are central to the lives and adjustment to 9th grade students,” continued Henningsen. Kip added that the general goal during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s was to eliminate small dormitories, while in the past 10 years, small dormitories have been brought back into use. “The administration finally caught on to the fact that small dorms mostly do a better job of ‘parenting’ their students,” said Kip.
