It’s not every day that students get to meet the folks whose lives are so inextricably tied to their own. But then again, not all students are like those residing in Stark Hall. Ask any one of them, on any given day, to describe their dormitory lifestyle, and you’ll get the same answer: Stark Hall’s residents make for one, big, (usually) happy family. On Friday nights, its occupants would rather go bowling together than host a loud party. And as a general rule, there is no smoking or drinking.

“This dorm is obviously not the choice for people who want to be doing those other things,” Jay Sathe ’03 said, on a recent Friday evening. “We’d rather spend time together as a big group. There’s just a different center of social atmosphere here.”

Their words were met with action on a mid-February evening when the students of Stark Hall decided to throw a reception and dinner for the legendary CMC couple for whom their dormitory is named. Upperclassmen may have already gleaned the stories of the former CMC president and his spouse from the annals of CMC history. But for many first-year students, their names weren’t ringing any particular bells.

That was all the impetus that Stark Hall resident David Murphy ’04 needed. “I just thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice for those students to have the chance to get to know the Starks?’” Murphy said. With help from Athenaeum director Bonnie Snortum and Brad Bodager, assistant vice president for development, Murphy’s suggestion became a reality.

Jack '57 and Jil Stark, with the first woman admitted to CMC, Kathleen Evans. Jack Stark was College president when CMC went co-ed in 1975. Jil oversaw functions at the Athenaeum.

The plaque greeting students of Stark Hall, dedicated in October 1997.

Stark Hall residents talked casually with the College's former president.

President Stark told the history behind the wall-sized poster students hung in honor of the couple: it's a breathtaking photo of snowcapped mountains that actually depicts the bedroom view from the Starks' mountainside cottage in June Lake, Calif.