As part of the system of social and residential life, students have been encouraged to form Theme Communities under the sponsorship of faculty advisors. Students submit proposals for theme living to the College Council, which accepts the proposals and allocates space for the programs when there is a clear linkage between student efforts to pursue or realize the College’s central educational and cultural ideals and residential life. All Theme Communities are expected to enrich the life of the campus by undertaking outreach programs that educate students about the particular theme which is used to organize the residence.
Each member of the Theme Community is expected to adhere to all responsibilities that are required of the community's members. The effectiveness of the community rests firmly on an accepted code of behavior in which cooperative living and consideration for others are the keynotes. Individual Theme Communities are responsible for developing workable ways of alleviating individual differences and resolving conflicts so that the rights of each student and the rights of the community are protected. Residents who do not adhere to the expectations of the theme community they are living in may be removed to other campus housing on the recommendation of the advisor of the community, the Director of Residential Life, or the Dean of Students/designee.
Theme Communities are reviewed each year by the College Council, which solicits a description from each community of its activities for the year, and judges its success in meeting the goals of thematic communities. New Theme Communities are reviewed with special care for their first three years, and then are considered presumptively ongoing. Presumptively ongoing communities will continue to be reviewed, but will only be moved by the College Council from their current location or denied renewal if they clearly and consistently fail to meet the goals of theme housing for a sustained period of time.
No student may live in a particular theme house for more than two years.
Upperclass students are eligible to apply.