New on-campus housing prototype offers 'community'

When Stephen Wallace signed up for his fourth year to live in Martel Residential College at Rice University, he said he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I love (living in a residential college)," he said. "It's definitely unique."

Rice, whose residential colleges are being used as a model for the University of Mississippi's, has nine residential colleges on campus, housing about 220 students and faculty per college.

Frank Rodriguez, senior director for housing and dining at Rice, said although the colleges have seminar rooms, no classes are held there because students with all different majors reside in each college.

"There are no actual classes in the residential colleges, those are pretty much just dorms," he said. "Each residential college is more or less like its own community. We built some new sections to three of the colleges four or five years ago and we did put a couple of classrooms in each of them, but they can be used for any discipline."

Although Rice's only on-campus living option is residential colleges as opposed to regular dorm rooms, Wallace said given the choice, he would chose to live in a residential college because they have a better sense of community since a smaller amount of people reside in the colleges.

"You get more of a sense of community for sure," he said. "You get to know people pretty well and that's kind of who you hang out with. Most of my friends are from my college."

Wallace said his residential college hosts its own activities including a public party every semester and a crawfish boil, allowing for students to really feel involved with their respective college.

Each college has a master, who is a faculty member that agrees to live in a house with their family next to their assigned college, Rodriguez said.

"That is like the mom and dad for that college," he said. "We also have two resident associate positions per college, which they live in the dorm area. Normally those will be single staff or faculty."

Jeff Frey, Web services manager for the information technology department at Rice and an RA at Martel, said he and his wife Stephanie love living in the college because it is a great way to interact with students outside of the classroom.

"We're not the police and we're not the parents," he said. "The resident associates, we are kind of like big brother / big sister or a mentor person that you can kind of look up to, ask questions, make friends with and do all in all stuff that you would normally do."

Frey said he and his wife eat lunch and almost every dinner in Martel's dining hall as a way to bond with students.

"When we go down there, whatever conversation's going on at the table, is the same conversation as we sit down and as we get up," Frey said. "It's very comfortable."

Wallace, who lives one floor above Frey and next door to Martel's second RA, Brian Gibson, said he does not find it strange living with faculty members.

"I think it really depends on who they are and what kind of personality they have," Wallace said. "(Martel's RAs) are just really friendly. I don't feel weirded out. Both of them are actually really good friends of mine."

James Stiver, principle of Preston Residential College at the University of South Carolina, said although USC only has one residential college, he thinks they are a great idea, especially for student and faculty interaction.

"I've never been so connected with students and I've always been a very student-oriented professor," he said. "I interact with them a lot, I go to a lot of the club meetings and hang out in the lobby sometimes and constantly stop and chat with them in the hallways."

Preston houses about 235 students, three graduate students who are resident tutors and Stiver and his wife. It also has 40 faculty associates who do not live in the college but attend dinner once a week to interact with students, Stiver said.

He said he recommends keeping the amount of residents living in a college less than 200 so there is a stronger sense of community.

"Two hundred seems to be a lot more common and I'm here to tell you it's too many," he said. "There are a number of people here in Preston that don't take advantage of the opportunities. The bigger the college is, the more the community is going to be broken up."

Stiver said he has not experienced any problems with living under the same roof as students and has had a better connection with students since living in the college.

"We're in a corner unit so it's very quiet," Stiver said. "I've been here for about a year and half. One night some people upstairs were moving furniture at about one in the morning but other than that no (major problems)."