First-Year Residential Interest Communities

Residence Life & Housing at DePauw University aims to provide a variety of welcoming living environments. We strive to provide our students with a variety of living environments that support their academic, co-curricular, and social needs. Each of these different living environments demands a distinctive approach to community living.

In response to the needs and desires of our first-year student population as well as interest expressed by students over the past few years, Residence Life & Housing has created a plan to include four unique and intentional residential communities that even further expand the variety of housing options for incoming first-year students.

For the 2008—2009 academic year, Residence Life & Housing is excited to offer these four First-Year Residential Interest Communities:

Interest communities are one of the unique opportunities available to students living in residence halls that supports their intellectual and civic engagement through supportive relationships in a residential setting. These options encourage our first-year students to take a higher level of responsibility in their residential experience and their overall college experience. Read about each of the communities and then find out how to get involved.

Global Community

DePauw has continued to make a concerted effort to prepare students to make a positive difference in the diverse and interconnected world in which they will live and work. The DePauw Strategic plan calls for the University to “expand our global perspective by increasing opportunities to engage international issues” and to “broaden cultural perspectives and better prepare our students for a complex and interrelated world.”

Students living in this community have the opportunity to create unique and intentional programming with the involvement from faculty in related departments and fields of study as well as student organizations.

This cross-campus engagement can provide   students with an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of different languages, learn about global politics and issues, and experience new cultures and cuisines. Examples of the possible programs include a world film festival, discussions centered on global social justice issues or language workshops.

Holistic Wellness Community

The Holistic Wellness community offers students the chance to reflect on the way their daily lives influence and are impacted by their mind, body and spirit.

Students who choose to become a member of this community will be offered opportunities to engage in reflection and education about spirituality, learn about fitness and healthy eating, discover skills and resources for time management, as well as other wellness related topics.

Expanded quiet hours will be put in place in this community and a room on the main floor of the residence hall will be set aside as a place for any student in the building to use for reflection, yoga, or quiet studying.

Social Ownership Community

Residence Life & Housing believes that college is what you make it, especially in regards to your social and residential experience. While we expect all students that live in our residence halls to be actively engaged and respectful of their community, the Social Ownership community attracts students who can commit to making an additional effort in order to create and foster a respectful, close-knit community.

The Social Ownership community is for students who are invested in and want to create a unique, responsible, and fun living environment for themselves. This community encourages students to make a special effort to create a place they can proudly call home. Social and educational programming in this community is directed by the residents and supported by the student staff living with them. Students in this community take a heightened role in their self-governance as well.

Substance Free Community

Substance free living is an environment in which all residents agree to lead a lifestyle in their community free from tobacco, alcohol, or drug use. Substance free living means different things to different people. For some residents, this   entails completely abstaining from the use of these variety of substances, and for others, it means not using them in the living unit.

It is the responsibility of each resident to  determine what exactly this means to them - with respect to the minimum expectation that they will be substance free in their living community - and to communicate their beliefs and their standards to other residents while still respecting the choices that other residents may make outside of the living unit. 

Substance free communities are vibrant communities that provide students an environment especially supportive of their choice not to use alcohol or tobacco. Programming in our substance free communities focuses on providing alternatives to alcohol-centered social events.

How to be a part of an Interest Community

If this is the kind of community with which you are ready to be a part and if you are ready to totally commit to this type of active and involved residential experience, here’s how to do it:

  • On your housing preference form, be sure to rank your choices of Interest Communities
  • Then under Relative Priority of Preferences, put "Interest Community" number one priority and we’ll see you in one of our Residential Interest Communities next year

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