First-year students spend hours each day in residence halls. They go there to eat, sleep or spend time with friends.
But a report released to The Michigan Daily yesterday may provide the best evidence that residence halls could soon be a place where all first-year students can not only socialize, but also learn.
The living-learning programs task force report outlines a plan for 11 programs by fall 1998. Currently, about 1,600 students are enrolled in one of six programs, including the Residential College and the 21st Century Program.
"Living-learning communities are the next big trend in undergraduate education," said LSA senior Randall Juip, president of the Residence Halls Association and member of the task force.
Juip said moving education away from the traditional classroom "will provide a lot of services to first-year students." According to the report, the programs will give students small seminar-format classes, study groups, academic advising and peer mentoring - all within the residence halls.
The 17-member task force was appointed about a year ago by Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford. She formed the committee after a report, "A Michigan Education," called for changes in undergraduate education, including the chance for all first-year students to be part of a living-learning community.
"In this report, you see 30 years of academic interest in living-learning communities," said Juip, referring to research done in the 1960s that prompted the creation of the Pilot Program and the Residential College.
After a year of meetings, the task force's final proposal calls for each community to be theme-based according to the residence hall's location on campus.
The Bursley program, "Invention and Creativity," corresponds with the North Campus focus on engineering, art and music, whereas the Couzens Hall program, "Society and Health," will be near University Hospitals and the School of Public Health.
"We wanted to make sure the themes might attract students with similar interests but they were broad enough so that people from any discipline could be comfortable in any of these programs," said William Zeller, director of Housing and chair of the task force.
While original proposals suggested that all first-year students be required to join a program, the final report recommends that participation be voluntary.
"I honestly think things work better if they're not mandatory," Hartford said. "Living in residence halls are not mandatory, but 98 percent do. It's what works for students."
Juip said the committee changed its proposal after soliciting student input.
"The overwhelming response was no, they should not be mandatory," Juip said. "We decided students would realize the merit of the programs and they wouldn't have to be mandatory."
The programs will run for two to three years as "test-markets" to gauge student interest and reaction, Zeller said. Space will be reserved in each dorm for students who don't want to be part of a living-learning community.
It's the task force's hope, however, that the "norm" will be for students to join a program, Zeller said.
"Education has to include the totality of experience," added Alan Levy, Director of Housing Public Affairs. That means that not only classroom learning, but also living and co-curricular activities count as academic experiences, he said.
The task force now hopes to get feedback from students, faculty and administrators.
"The reason we're floating this as a proposal is to get feedback," Levy said. "We are looking at what it would take, what are the logistical obstacles. The issue of how to set it up will take some time."
David Schoem, assistant dean for undergraduate education, said the programs will create smaller academic environments and more individual attention.
First-year student Margarita Banda, who is part of the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program, comes from a small high school. She hopes the living-learning community will help her adjust to a large University.
"I'm coming from a small school and I didn't want to jump into U-M and get lost," Banda said.
"We have a close-knit group of people," said LSA first-year student Seth Myers, another living-learning participant. "It's really nice to be going to classes with people I'm living with."
Schoem said it still "remains to be seen" whether the task force will meet its 1998 goal.
"It's a good outline of what's possible, but it will take an increase in further interest and new funding," Schoem said. "The timeline is very optimistic."
Hartford said the University's deans will discuss the report later this month; Juip said he plans to lead a series of RHA forums, the first on October 1. Advisory committees also will be formed to study and create the specifics for each program. Before implementation, final approval would be made by the partners of each program and the University President, Hartford said.
"We have a lot of input-seeking to do," Hartford said. "We need committees to flush out the recommendations of the task force."
Schoem said there also needs to be further discussion about ways to fund the new programs.
But in the meantime, the report outlines a plan for each incoming class - about 5,000 students.
"You see U-M committing itself to living-learning communities," Juip said. "We're placing ourselves academically and culturally ahead of any other University in the country, possibly the world."
- Daily Staff Reporter Heather Miller contributed to this report.