Rice University Colleges Add Apartments for Faculty
Posted by R. J. O’Hara for the Collegiate Way
28 September 2002 (collegiateway.org) — Rice University in Texas created its system of residential colleges in the 1950s and was the third university in the United States to adopt the collegiate model. Rice continues to be a leader in the collegiate movement and it has recently announced the establishment of apartments for visiting faculty in the Rice colleges.
One of the more destructive features of late-20th-century expansion and centralization in many universities was the complete separation of housing from academics. This separation was often codified in institutional policies and budgeting rules that continue to stand in the way of attempts to provide humane and cohesive campus environments for students. Residential colleges break down this separation and bring academic life into all parts of an institution. If your students don’t have a chance to share their campus home from time to time with visiting professors, returning alumni, and college parents and friends, then everyone is poorer for it. Congratulations to Rice for offering this fine example of how life and learning can and should be brought together.
