THE UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE: Pilot community service house may overlap with Castle

Since 1991, students with a strong interest in community service have had the opportunity to live in the Castle at 36th Street and Locust Walk. But beginning next year, the Castle -- which houses the Community Service Living and Learning Program -- will no longer be the only option. As part of the University's collegiate planning efforts, four pilot programs will be launched next year that will combine academics and residences. As one of these pilot programs, the Civic College House will allow students interested in taking community service-oriented courses to live on a specifically designated floor of High Rise East. The Civic College House will differ from the Castle in that it will require those living in the pilot residence to take one course per semester that is related to service-learning or the community, according to English Professor Peter Conn, who is leading the Civic College House sub-committee of the collegiate planning board. More than 30 courses are applicable to the program, according to former Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson, who is serving as a consultant to the collegiate planning board. Some of these classes are categorized as "service-learning" courses. Others, including some in the Urban Studies Department, relate to community affairs. A "high degree of interaction" is expected to take place between the Civic College House and the Castle, Conn said. But the Civic College House and the Castle will not really overlap because many Castle residents may not be interested in the academic requirement involved. Those who live in the Castle, however, say that the vast majority of residents do take community service-related classes. "We don't have to take classes, but it becomes somewhat similar in that most of us are taking classes that are Urban Studies or service-learning," College sophomore Elizabeth Theoharis said. Theoharis also said that the Castle residents who do not take those courses often cannot fit them into their schedules. But English Professor Robert Lucid, who chairs the collegiate planning board, said the major difference between the Civic College House and the Castle is that the latter "specifically rejects" the idea of having a curricular requirement. Matt Sipple, the resident program director, said the college house would simply "replace the service requirement [in the Castle] with an academic one." "I think they could definitely co-exist," Sipple added. He disagreed with Theoharis about Castle residents' interest in the academic component. "The Castle attracts people not interested in doing [community-related] academic work," said Sipple, a first-year history graduate student. He added that if Psi Upsilon -- a fraternity that was kicked out of the Castle in 1990 -- were to recolonize and take over the Castle again, the Civic College House would become even more necessary. Some have argued that the current college houses and other existing programs like the Castle should serve as the models the administration needs -- instead of the four pilot programs being proposed. Theoharis said the Castle itself could serve as a model to the collegiate planning board. "The Castle is a good example of how such a program or community would work," she said. Although faculty members will be active in the program through the classes they teach, there will be no faculty-in-residence next year. Instead, Conn said there will be a faculty member in charge of the program, who will serve as an advisor and leader. Although he would not specify who that professor might be, Conn said that it would definitely not be him. "I think the ideal model for a program like this would include a residential faculty member," he explained. "Students and faculty will compete to participate in this exciting and innovative program in new and productive ways." Originally the Civic College House was slated to fill a floor of the Graduate Towers. After seriously considering this option, however, the sub-committee decided against it, especially since undergraduates expressed concern that their peers would not want to live in a graduate environment.

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