With the transition to the house model on West Campus set for Fall 2012, administrators have announced additional details concerning the way the system will affect residence life.
The new housing model seeks to accommodate students who are not members of fraternities or selective living groups in order to offer independents the same privileges other groups currently have. The house model will replace the University’s current quad model.
The houses will contain 40 to 120 people, said Donna Lisker, associate dean of undergraduate education. Under the new model, students will have the option to return to the same community their junior and senior years, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said.
“We, right now, are in a state where housing is very unequal, so we have to do something,” Dean of Undergraduate Education Steve Nowicki said.
Since discussions about the changes began last Spring, a number of spots on West Campus have been reserved to support the new model. K4, the addition to Keohane Quadrangle set to open in Spring 2012, has been set aside exclusively for two houses, Moneta said.
Houses will essentially be clusters of students within pre-existing structures, although new dorms may be built to accommodate the new model, he added.
Fraternities and selective living groups in good standing will not lose their spaces on West Campus, however. Lisker said that “healthy and currently existing” groups will still have guaranteed housing on West, but the groups’ current locations are not guaranteed.
In an effort to create space for houses, however, no new selective living groups will be added to West, Nowicki said.
The offices of Undergraduate Education and Student Affairs are overseeing the conversion to the house model. Lisker said the transition committee—which she co-chairs with Joe Gonzalez, associate dean of residence life—has met twice so far this Fall.
Campus Council President Stephen Temple and Duke Student Government President Mike Lefevre, both seniors, and Campus Council Treasurer Leslie Andriani, a junior, serve as student representatives on the committee. Temple said the committee is expected to add more students.
“In Campus Council, our mission is to foster community within the residential campus, so I’m excited about this because this will give Duke students the opportunity for relationships to flourish in residence halls,” Temple said.
In an effort to build communities of independents on West, the individual houses will have themes. The specific themes have not yet been chosen, however.
“We don’t want to devise a narrow characterization such that every house is supposed to be the same—we’ll fail if we do that,” Moneta said.
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