Collins LLC celebrates 40th anniversary with reunion, open mic bonfire

Brea Perry enrolled at Indiana University in 1994, lived in Collins Living-Learning Center until 1998 and remembers this as a “special community in her life.”

Perry now teaches sociology at University of Kentucky but traveled more than 150 miles Saturday to attend the birthday party of her favorite dorm.

About 150 other alumni accompanied Perry as guests to the 40th
anniversary of Collins LLC.

Events ranged from tours of the old dorm to an open-mic bonfire, and
attendees ranged from recent graduates to alumni from the 1960s.

Carl Ipsen, director of Collins LLC, described the weekend as a class reunion but only for individuals who lived in Collins LLC.

“It’s mostly an excuse to celebrate Collins. It’s a special place,” Ipsen said. “It’s been described as a college within a college.”

Ipsen said that before the LLC, Collins was a men’s residence center and that residency was expanded in 1972 to be more inclusive.

He said a lot of swimmers and student athletes lived in the dorm but that the
LLC now celebrates the five tenets of academics, community, diversity, sustainable living and student empowerment.

Returning alumni wore T-shirts inscribed with these five principles on their backs.
Duncan Mitchel, a Bloomington resident and former dishwasher for Collins LLC, attended the “See your old dorm room tour” on Saturday. Mitchel said he had worked at Collins for more than 30 years.

“This was just a job, but it was a decent job,” Mitchel said. “It was a good time of my life, and it was a place I fit in. If I had worked in one of the party dorms I probably wouldn’t have lasted.”

Mitchel said he was interested in seeing anyone he used to know and remembers great conversations with past residents.

He said working at the LLC made him feel like a school teacher, and he got used “to working at a place he fit in.” But it also made him understand that every semester was temporary; he got used to friends coming and going.

Mitchel attended this event, and every Collins reunion prior, as a way to
reconnect.

“Just the total experience of being around bright, creative and serious people is what I loved about IU,” Mitchel said. “It was good to be working with people who had the same kind of values as me.”

Ipsen also commented on the allegiance residents hold to Collins LLC, and he cited the dorm returnee rate as proof of residents’ commitment. Most IU Residence Halls are 90 percent freshman — Collins is 50 percent returning underclassmen.

“People met spouses and made some of their most meaningful friendships,” Ipsen said. “A lot of people remember this as one of the great times of their life and a place where their life changed.”

Although it’s been 18 years since Perry was enrolled at IU, she still feels a strong sense of identity in Edmonson-Cravens, her old wing of Collins.

“It’s a real community, it’s not just a dorm,” Perry said. “It was just a place for people who didn’t fit in elsewhere. People were always out and social, and everyone was non-judgmental with one another.”

Perry attended the weekend reunion with her husband and two daughters. She met her husband in Indianapolis during her last semester at IU, and though he didn’t live in Collins LLC, he still believes he is an “honorary resident.”

Collins: Did you know?

The mascot of Collins LLC, a red-capped, stodgy gnome, can be found in three stained glass windows in the lobby of Edmonson-Cravens dormitory.

The gnome is doing three different activities, and the history behind these colorful windows is unknown.

However, the image is iconic to the dorm, appearing front and center on the yearbook, Homecoming parade float and even in the dorm’s Board of Education slogan: “We put the ‘know’ in gnome.”

Students have a voice in the organization of Collins LLC through a variety of student-run organizations. Examples include Arts Council, which sponsors art, music, dance and theatre activities in Collins, and E-Force, which coordinates recycling, camping trips and resident participation in Earth Day.

All incoming freshmen at Collins LLC must enroll in Q-199, a peer-taught class that helps freshmen integrate into the Collins, IU and Bloomington communities.

The course allows Collins students to explore the meanings behind Collins’ five principles of academics, community, diversity, sustainable living and student empowerment.

The course also culminates in a “Q project,” which is a student’s interpretation of one of Collins’ key values.