Ole Miss Understands Residential Colleges
Posted by R. J. O’Hara for the Collegiate Way
![[The University of Mississippi]](http://collegiateway.org/images/news/2004-mississippi.gif "The University of Mississippi.")
11 February 2008 (collegiateway.org) — “University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat discussed the current state of Ole Miss, the upcoming presidential debate and other issues related to the university in a recent editorial board interview with The Meridian Star:
The Meridian Star: Tell me some of the things that are going on at Ole Miss right now.
Robert Khayat: We have lots of exciting things going on at Ole Miss. Item one is this presidential debate. […] The second thing that we’re taking a leadership role on is in the creation of what we call residential colleges … the historical approach in America to dormitories has been to have dorm rooms and bathrooms and then, zingo, you’re out of the building. Residential colleges are designed to create a community, and they started in England, in Oxford and Cambridge. Places like Harvard and Yale and Princeton have them. And the difference between a residential college and a dorm is that a student becomes a member of (the) residential college, and stays a member of that college for four years.
Star: Would this, for instance, have one house for broadcasting majors and one for another kind of major?
Khayat: No, actually the idea is to have all different kind of students—have Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors, and all disciplines, and not all honor students and not all probationary students. You want a good mix in there, because the idea is that you’re building a community. You find in colleges that if students are members of a community within the larger community they tend to be more successful.
Star: What kind of a timetable are we talking about on that?
Khayat: Well, we’ll start construction March 1st. We’ll be done in August of 2009.
From my talk in 2004 to newly completed construction in 2009. A good rate of progress for a large university.
