Changes for residential programs

Some join them out of legitimate interest or for a heightened sense of community.

Others just use them to get into the Quad.

But whatever their ultimate purpose, several residential programs are changing at Penn.

Residential programs "give a place like Fisher Hassenfeld, which is a house of about 500 students" a place "to feel more connected and a little more at home," said College Houses and Academic Services director Leslie Delauter.

To that end, the size of the popular Law and Society program in Fisher Hassenfeld is being reduced to about 30 people in order to increase student involvement.

Fisher Hassenfeld House Dean April Herring estimated that there are about 73 students in the program this year.

"It's probably just because of the pressure to get into the Quad that it's grown that big," said Delauter.

She recognized that students use residential programs as back doors into the more popular college houses.

"It makes the jobs of the house deans who live in the Quad a lot harder," Delauter said, explaining that the Riepe, Ware and Fisher Hassenfeld house deans are bombarded by residential program applications when the deadline for freshman housing applications rolls around each spring.

Law and Society resident and College freshman Thomas Brookings admitted to using the program as a way to get a room in the Quad. "I was interested in Law and Society, but we didn't necessarily do anything," he said of the program.

CHAS spokeswoman Sue Smith said that in surveys conducted of residential program participants last year, many said that having students who didn't really care about the program detracted from their own living experiences.

Still, two new potential back doors into housing have been added to the list of programs available next fall.

Fisher Hassenfeld will add the Health and Society program, focusing on "what kinds of policies and what kinds of laws" impact health care, explained Herring.

The program will benefit from the medical and business knowledge of Fisher Hassenfeld Faculty Master Sandy Schwartz, Smith said.

The program is "especially pertinent with the election coming up," Herring added.

Rodin College House will add the Leadership Residential Program. As a collaborative effort between Rodin and the Fox Leadership Program, it will require participants to attend specific Fox Leadership events, explained Delauter.

In addition to the new programs, some changes are being made to existing programs.

Native Americans will be added to the groups discussed in the Politics and Cultural Pluralism program in W.E.B. DuBois College House, despite failed attempts to implement the program last year.

The Modern Languages Program in Gregory College House will make the Chinese house official. Gregory House Dean Christopher Donovan said that this year it was established on a trial basis and was not advertised to freshmen.

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