Students passionate about subjects varying from television to triathlons can to live with peers with similar interests in a new housing initiative that will launch this fall. The program will allow 15 or more students who share a common interest or hobby to apply to live together, according to the office of residential life’s website.
Each budding community must submit a statement identifying its goals and find a faculty associate to serve as an advisor. The faculty member would attend events, meet with the group and provide guidance, though he or she would not live on the floor, River cluster community director Katharina Daub said.
To be eligible to apply for a living learning community, ORL requires at least 15 students to register their commitment to furthering a shared interest. Applications for 2014-2015 are due by April 7.
The program differs from Dartmouth’s existing Greek and affinity houses because the communities will be integrated into residential halls.
Creating communities united by a shared interest has proven to be popular at other universities. For instance, students at George Washington University are encouraged to form societies around “their particular needs and interests.” Applicants must have a GPA of a 2.5 or higher and cannot have an active judicial record, according to the university’s website. ORL has not set a GPA requirement for living learning communities.
Undergraduate advisor and Dartmouth cycling team president Daniel Holmdahl ’14 suggested taking advantage of the program to build community among endurance athletes on club teams. Members of the Dartmouth Endurance Racing Team, the cycling team and the triathlon team could live together, forming connections despite the sometimes isolating nature of their sports, he said.
“Many years ago, some members on the [cycling] team had an off-campus house where they lived, trained, and studied together, and I’ve always wanted to create something similar during my time at Dartmouth,” Holmdahl said in an email.
Daub said ORL has kept the initiative small for the time being to gauge student interest, though it has asked UGAs to mention the new opportunity at floor meetings and via email.
A working group member, Angela Zhang ’12, said the initiative allows students to live with a larger group of friends and gain access to resources to promote their shared interests.
If a community’s application is accepted, students must still apply for housing through ORL’s regular room draw process. Until then, the housing assignment is not considered official, according to a promotional video released by the Office of Residential Life.
The program has not yet received any applications, but advertisements were only posted recently, Daub said. As many students are currently off-campus, the office plans on advertising more during the spring term, closer to the application deadline, she said.
Several students have expressed interest in forming communities based on shared hobbies.
Cathy Liebowitz ’15, a UGA, said in an email that a group of her friends has considered forming a floor based on favorite television shows, either “Game of Thrones” or “Sherlock.”
Applications are open to all members of the Classes of 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Other interest-based housing initiatives have also been proposed for the upcoming academic year, including residential communities for the members of the Class of 2018 that focus on STEM subjects, entrepreneurship and the arts. The idea resulted from discussions between residential life director Michael Wooten, College President Phil Hanlon and Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson.
During the College’s strategic planning process last spring, the Experimental Dartmouth working group explored ways to integrate academic and residential life. One of its proposals was to create a “College within the College,” a living-learning community that would encourage closer interaction among undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and staff.
