This university has a policy of naming its dorms after localities in the state. As a result, I was quite struck to find out a few weeks ago that the new dorm being built on North Campus will be called Oakland Hall. The only Oakland I know of is in California, home of the Raiders and Tupac Shakur, and, needless to say, I was a bit confused. After consulting a map, I discovered there actually is an Oakland in this state, but it’s still a disappointment.

According to the city’s website, www.oaklandmd.com, Oakland is the seat of Garrett County, located in Maryland’s western panhandle, and has a population of nearly 2,000. The city is closer to Pittsburgh, Penn., than to Washington or Baltimore, and it’s only notable resident was a Civil War general who lived there for a decade before moving to Oakland, Calif., where he was buried.

Couldn’t we have picked better?

All dorms on North Campus are named for county seats. There are 23 counties and 23 county seats in the state. So far, there are 13 groups of buildings named for county seats: the 11 dorms on North Campus, the Leonardtown apartments and Annapolis Hall on South Campus. That leaves 10 county seats that don’t have dorms named for them.

However, there’s no denying that one county seat in particular most deserves having its name on a dorm. Now, I assume you’re reading this newspaper in a lecture hall, so I’d like you to look to your left and to your right. One of the three of you is from Montgomery County. It goes without saying that MoCo (as we locals call it) contributes a healthy number of students to the university, not to mention, of course, that we’re the eighth-wealthiest county in the nation. Why, then, doesn’t Rockville have a dorm named after it?

The 2007 Census update showed Rockville has 58,706 residents and is the third-largest city in the state by population. It’s home to a branch of Celera Genomics where the human genome was decoded. On top of that, Rockville has three Metro stops, the gravesite of F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and even a mention in R.E.M.’s 1984 single “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville.” It’s got a newly revitalized downtown with overpriced parking and overpriced stores. I’m not gonna lie, guys: Rockville rocks.

Does Oakland rock? No. I don’t think R.E.M. has ever even been to Oakland, except maybe when they tried to see a Raiders game and got horribly lost.

Let’s give the Board of Regents three cheers for approving the first new traditional-style dorm since Hagerstown Hall was built in 1967, but the name they chose has got to go. We’ve got three years until Oakland opens its doors, and students born and bred in MoCo should rise up and ask: Where’s my Rockville Hall?

Dan Reed is a senior architecture and English major. He can be reached at reeddbk@gmail.com.