The Importance of a Residential Campus
“A residential campus provides a community where students can engage in the breadth of human diversity, learning together, solving problems together, and setting the stage for this interconnectedness to continue into their careers. As students connect across a variety of different boundaries, they are also positioned to learn the many ways they are more similar with their classmates than different.
Done well, the culture of a residential campus also instills pride. This sense of pride continues throughout one’s lifetime, refining values such as citizenship and service to others. It is also an outcome of the human transformation that takes place during the college years.
The residential campus serves as a crucible for human growth and development—a place where learning about an academic discipline reacts with learning about oneself. It fosters a community where students learn from scholars, but reinforce this learning with each other. This peer-to-peer learning is among the most powerful of outcomes on a residential campus.”
by: Beth M. McCuskey, Ed.D.
Housing Options
Residence Halls
Residence halls provide a number of accommodations, from traditional, community-type environments to more suite, and even apartment-style, halls. Some halls are single gender, while others may be co-ed by room, suite, floor, or wing. Students also have the opportunity to live in communities that are predominantly one class year or a mixture of years.
Thematic Living Groups
Living Learning Communities on Monroe Street
Botany- Geology
Geode- Geology
Chemistry – Chemistry
Civic Engagement – Landis Center
Chinese – Foreign Languages & Literature
German – Foreign Languages & Literature
Creative Writing – English
FAMS (Film and Media Studies)
Folk Music- Music
Foodie – Campus Life
History – History
Interfaith – Religious Life
Monroe @ – Information Technology
Technology – Environmental Engineering
TREEhouse – Engineering Studies
Wall Street- Economics
WiSE – Chemistry
Wellness Housing
First-year wellness is located in Watson Hall while upper-level wellness communities are located in Keefe Hall.
Grossman House
The Grossman House for Global Perspectives is an intimate community with a deep co-curricular anchor in globalization. The 25 Grossman citizens, the students who live in Grossman House, design and implement academically focused programming with the support, guidance, and mentoring of faculty whose research and teaching address globalization.
Special Interest Housing
TRAP (TABLETOP AND ROLEPLAYING APPRECIATION PROGRAMS)
Located in Keefe Hall, this house provides an encouraging and supportive environment for people to learn new games and play old ones, taking advantage of all of the benefits that tabletop games provide.
America Through the Decades
Located in Keefe Hall, this house seeks to create an inclusive community that explores and celebrates the turbulent and exciting development of the American culture.
H.O.L.A. (Heritage of Latin America)
This group on the 2nd floor of Ramer Hall promotes cross-cultural communication, develops leadership skills, and educates about the heritage of Latin America and Latinos in the United States.
International Affairs House
The newly created International Affairs House is located at 225 Reeder St. Residents of the house will focus discussions and programming on global issues.
Music Appreciation Floor
On the third floor of Ramer Hall, the MAFia advocates the performance and appreciation of music in a substance-free environment. Opportunities are created for students to perform, either solo or as small groups, and to support campus musical groups through involvement in or attendance at performances.
Departmental and Specialty Houses
Art Houses – 623, 624, 626, 641, and 643 Parsons St.
The five Arts Houses host up to 15 students who serve as the steering committee for the Arts Society. Residents coordinate programs and events that advance the fine and performing arts at Lafayette.
Hillel House – 524 Clinton Terrace
Hillel Society provides a wide range of opportunities and programs for students of all denominations to practice Judaism on campus.
McKelvy House – 200 High St.
Each year about 20 students are invited to live together in this 19th-century stone mansion. Intellectual discourse is the centerpiece. The program encourages the exchange of ideas and information among students with different interests and in different disciplines. Admission is competitive and requires nomination by a faculty member.
Portlock Black Cultural Center (BCC) – 101 McCartney St.
Founded in 1970 by the College’s former academic dean David A. Portlock, the Portlock Black Cultural Center primarily supports the educational and social experiences of students of African, Latino, Asian, and Native American descent.
Greek Organizations
Fraternity and Sorority Houses
Sororities:
Alpha Gamma Delta Alpha Phi
Delta Delta Delta Delta Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma Pi Beta Phi
Fraternities:
Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Upsilon
Phi Kappa Psi Zeta Psi
Fraternities offer in-house meal plan options, and often their members are required to participate in the fraternity meal plan. Sororities do not have in-house meal plans and are required to participate in the College’s meal plan. The fraternity and sorority chapters must fill their chapter houses to capacity each semester.