Penn is unveiling a new program to revamp housing options and introduce residential communities designed by students, the first of which will be implemented in fall 2019.
After receiving five applications for potential "Student-Designed Communities," one of the communities has been selected and will be put into effect next year in New College House.
Director of Four-Year Houses and Residential Programs Ryan Keytack declined to reveal which community was selected.
“There was an initial selection process that then got forwarded to the individual houses," Keytack said. "The student groups interviewed the houses, the houses interviewed the student groups, and if there was a mutual match, we could green-light the community.”
Keytack said the idea for the student-designed communities stemmed from the need to assess and revise housing options for students. The new program also looks to complement the new sophomore housing policy, which states all sophomores must live on campus starting in fall 2021, and the ongoing construction of NCH West.
Besides student-designed communities, students can also choose to live with other students in interest-based programs or course communities, such as the Mentors or Integrated Studies residential programs.
Sam Rosenberg, a College freshman in the Integrated Studies Program, said the changes to the course and program communities would benefit students in ISP by helping keep students together beyond their first year.
"There certainly are small groups of friends within the program but I think that these changes should help lead to a broader sense of community among the students in the program," Rosenberg said. "The student-designed communities seem like a good way to get students to stay on campus and I’ll definitely be interested to see how they work out next year.”
GA Nick Hall's room in New College House.
College and Wharton freshman Maddie Lau, who is in the Huntsman Program in International Studies, was skeptical of the new housing policy. Lau said because Huntsman is an integrated academic and residential community, not much would change with her living experience.
She said that although a student-designed community could simply end up being a group of friends living together, “it could also be a really fun experience for people to get into things they didn’t know about and meet new people.”
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