THE Volume 91, Issue 5
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UADRANGLE A Student Publication of Manhattan College Since 1924
Feb. 17, 2015
www.mcquad.org
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Kevin Fuhrmann/The Quadrangle
Common Interest Living Communities To Be Offered in the Fall Michelle DePinho Editor
Manhattan College unveiled that it will be offering common interest living communities options for students next year in an email to the student body last Tuesday. The common interest communities “are a series of themed residences where sophomores, juniors and seniors can enhance their experiences at the college by living with other students who share their interests – regardless of what their academic courses or majors might be,” the email from the Office of Residence Life read. The common interest communities or themed living is an option that’s available at most institutions today,” Director of Residence Life Andrew Weingarten said. “There’s a lot of research on it that shows that it supports student satisfaction, persistence in college, recruitment, retention of students. It provides more opportunities for student leadership.” The idea of students with a common interest living together is not a new one at the school. For years, engineering majors have lived together on the same floor in Jasper Hall. “We’ve done it for a long time informally in Jasper [Hall] for a few years,” he
said. Weingarten called that arrangement very popular and said there’s always an interest of students trying to live in that informal community. “It’s almost a why-not,” he said. While Weingarten confirmed that the common interest living communities will go into effect next year, he said the specifics of the program are not fully developed yet. “I know that any program or offering for students is only going to be effective and successful with student input and student involvement. It’s really important to remember that,” he said. “We can set the framework, the idea is there, but it’s not fully developed yet. How it will evolve, that will depend on student feedback.” Right now, the proposed options that students are providing feedback on through an online survey include the following: engineering, entrepreneurship, environmental issues and sustainability, health professions, IMPACT (Inspiring Means to Promote Authentic Community Transformation), Nuestra Casa, and performing arts and visual culture. Each community will involve specialized programming, and some will offer relevant community service or leadership opportunities. Nuestra Casa is the only cultural living program proposed on the list.
Its goal is to pair English-speaking students with Spanish-speaking students to enhance Spanish language proficiency by committing to speak Spanish 90 percent of the time. The dormitories where these programs will be offered has not yet been determined. “They will be where they make the most sense,” Weingarten said. “We would need dedicated space for programming.”
Kevin Fuhrmann/The Quadrangle One thing that is likely is that these common interest communities will not be offered to incoming freshman. “We’re likely going to make it an option for continuing students,” Weingarten said, citing both housing lottery logistics and the existence of the Arches livinglearning community that currently serves incoming freshman. Continued on page 3