Dean of the College Lee Pelton has established an advisory committee on affinity housing and the committee will hold its first meeting later this term.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton said the committee will be "composed of the faculty who are in those academic programs connected with the academic affinity houses."
He said it is not a "committee that will issue a report or take action," but rather one that will meet only once or twice a term to discuss issues concerning affinity housing.
One of the first issues Pelton said he would like the committee to discuss is whether the College should regularize the way affinity houses operate.
He said all houses currently differ on many issues such as residence requirements.
Some houses only allow students to reside in the house for a certain amount of time, Pelton said.
"In some ways this makes a lot of sense to me," he said. "But it is not a policy that pertains to all affinity organizations. I want to see if it should or shouldn't."
The committee may also advise Pelton on which groups on campus should receive new affinity housing.
Pelton said once the committee "has a sense of how these organizations work," he plans to ask members to advise him about the many applications he receives each year from "student groups who want to establish academic affinity houses or other types of projects that are similar."
Pelton said the committee will also discuss issues of sharing resources among the different affinity facilities.
Native Americans at Dartmouth Advisor and Native American Studies Professor Michael Hanitchak, who is a member of the new committee, said he thinks the committee will focus on "things that have been successful or not in various houses."
"We all have a lot to learn from each other," Hanitchak said. "It will be interesting for all of us to get together and see."
Hanitchak said he does not think the committee has been charged with discussing affinity housing for new groups, but he has "a suspicion it might come up."
