Talking Stick - May/June 2012 - 39

to foster community development. As a result, dormitories, generally high rises, were constructed with little attention paid to student satisfaction or comfort. Examples of this type of construction still exist: buildings such as Brumby, Creswell, and Russell halls at the University of Georgia in Athens; Lever, Manning, and Byrnes halls at Clemson University in South Carolina; and Watterson Towers at Illinois State University in Normal.

community, and they work with faculty to provide programs such as lectures, debates, and discussions around the common academic focus of the community. These programs reflect academic objectives and combine curricular and cocurricular activities.

Learning Outside the Classroom
The concept of creating learning communities within campus residence halls began being heavily discussed in the 1980s as an avenue for facilitating meaningful interaction between peers, faculty, students, and staff – and also as a means to make large campuses seem or feel smaller. The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, is credited with leading the way for learning communities when, in 1984, it launched the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education. Today, learning communities are a fundamental component of the curriculum on college and university campuses. Alexander Meiklejohn, who established an experimental college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1927, is often credited as the father of living- learning programs. Early versions of these LLPs were honors programs, themed housing, and residential colleges. Regardless of how they are defined, typically these programs are attempts by institutions to create a small college environment by designating a housing facility for a group of students with a common interest or purpose. These programs reflect the integration of the academic curriculum and daily contact with faculty, students, and staff working and living in that environment. Staff are trained specifically for that

No Longer Invisible
Alfred Kinsey, founder in 1947 of the Institute for Sex Research, originally reported that 10 percent of men were

homosexual. Recent studies reveal that 9 million Americans identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), making it clear that colleges and universities should better respond to the needs of this population. Determining the number of LGBT college students is challenging, since few institutions collect this kind of data, leading to these students being referred to as the invisible population. Awareness of their needs increased in 1991 when eight institutions established offices to assist them. Regardless of the actual numbers, the general consensus is that the number of college students identifying as

ACUHO-I/EBI Resident, Apartment, and Student Staﬀ Assessments
“A commitment to assessment and benchmarking e orts strongly beneﬁts a housing organization by providing information to help determine priorities in improving the student experience. ACUHO-I/EBI housing assessments are an excellent way to demonstrate this commitment.” - Alma Sealine, ACUHO-I President

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May + June 2012

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Talking Stick - May/June 2012

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