Residence Life
Theme Dorms
Each year the residence life office offers students the opportunity to create a living environment centered on a specific area of study or interest. The theme dorms for the 2009-2010 academic year are listed below. Applications are online through each student's IRIS account, click on Residence Life to fill out an application. Students accepted to a theme dorm are not eligible for the general housing lottery. Please refer to the Housing Lottery Guide for more info.
Theme dorms are living/learning communities centered around an academic or extracurricular interest that the residents share. Along with the House Advisor, Activity Coordinator, and Theme Dorm Organizer, dormies work together to plan events each semester that reflect their theme and are open to the entire campus. These activities are often social, educational, or both, and sometimes involve faculty members from related departments, or staff members with related interests. This requires more time and participation from residents than a non-theme dorm, but theme dorm residents often cite a more close-knit and involved community as a great benefit.
The organizer of the theme dorm along with a member of the Residence Life Committee will be reviewing applications and making final decisions. Decisions to live in the theme dorm will be based on your answers to this application.
These applications are for Returning students ONLY. First year students will have a separate application mailed to them in May.
2009-2010 Theme Dorms
2009 - 2010 Theme Dorms
CROSS CANYON THEME PARK
For students interested in maximizing their opportunity of residing in and around a theme dorm community…check out making your home in the new Cross Canyon “Theme Park” (Griffin, McKinley, Chittick, and Woodbridge Residence Halls). Tír na nÓg, French/Spanish Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and Ancient Civilization are a great way of integrating more than one theme in your social and educational living experience.
Note: There are double rooms reserved for upperclassmen in all of the cross canyons. If you have a roommate in mind that is also applying for the theme dorm, please make a note of this on your application.
Ancient Civilizations (Woodbridge)
When in Ancient Civ do as the ancient civilization did. This doesn’t mean conquering the next dorm over and claiming their women. It does mean eating dormice, artfully wearing your bed-linens to class and reveling in your love of the pre-Dark Ages history and culture. The Roman Emperor Caligula made his horse a Consul. In Ancient Civ you can make your dormies horses and jeer them on as they drag your chariot to victory in our annual Funeral Games. Of all the ancient civilizations, which are you? Persian? Greek? Chinese? You decide. (Huns welcome, please check your hordes at the border).
Tír na nÓg - Land of the Young (Griffin & McKinley)
Tír na nÓg lies just beyond the setting sun, it sits just a little bit further than the edges of the map, or just past the Blue Bridge. Tír na nÓg is “The Land of the Ever-Young,” that place where everlasting friendships are born, heroes are made, and adventures in good company are had. If you’re a lover of fantasy and science fiction, mythology, and the power of the mind’s eye then come one, come all, Tír na nÓg is your home away from home!
French and Spanish Culture (Chittick)
Students who are interested in French or Spanish languages, literature, and culture have the opportunity to live in a dormitory environment that aims at helping students maintain and improve their French and Spanish. French and Spanish Language Scholars will live in the dorm and assist students with informal language development, will be available regularly to help with language assignments of all levels (grammar, literary analysis, etc.) and will coordinate lively cultural activities, both on and off-campus. This group of students will also be closely affiliated with the language houses.
The Co-op is a close-knit group of dreamers, thinkers, activists, and artist shopping, cooking, and cleaning communally. All members of the Reed community are welcome to the dorm’s daily nightly dinner, which emphasize local and organic food and are always vegetarian – and vegan- friendly. The Co-op makes major decisions communally, with special attention paid to the free exchanges of opinions in a supportive environment. Co-op members work and play together, fostering a tight and unique group unlike any other. The conscious community development central to the Co-op creates a family of diverse students, working to achieve shared utopian goals.
The Homestead House, located right next to the growing Reed Farm, is
for students who want to live self-sufficiently and build a strong
community to revive the days of pioneers in the Willamette Valley.
Homesteaders will conserve energy and resources, using wits and
ingenuity to simplify and beautify their communal home. Daily
activities on the Homestead will include projects and chores to improve
and maintain Homestead House as well as crafts and activities to build
a sense of family and community. Homesteaders will also collaborate
with others on campus, hosting workshops to share skills and learn from
one another. Members will be involved with the Reed Sustainable Food
Project Farm, working there together to receive a daily dose of
vegetables, dirt, and laughter. In return they will grow the community
food systems initiative on campus and encourage responsibility for
nutrition and conservation as a way of building community at Reed.
Mad Science welcomes those who love science and who wish to live among others that share similar interests and the desire to explore them. Our close-knit community is friendly, diverse, and inclusive, and we participate in a wide variety of activities ranging from making ice cream with liquid nitrogen, to weekend science fiction viewings. If you are interested in joining this group of spontaneous, engaging, and generally awesome people but want to know more than 100 words of blurb, come to our open house.
The Japanese Culture Dorm, affectionately known as J-Dorm, is a place where Reedies come together to enjoy and learn about some of the finer points of Japanese culture. We love both the nuances of Japan’s traditional culture (read: the movie Samurai Fiction or proper nigri preparation) in addition to its pop-culture (read: study breaks at 2 in the morning playing Final Fantasy or watching a Kitamura film). The aim of J-Dorm is to promote and educate others about the awesomeness that is Japan and it’s culture, and to provide a friendly support for Reedies interested in Japan and its rich historical and modern cultural legacy.
The Outhouse is more than a dorm. It is a family interested in having fun in the great outdoors. It is a place where nature lovers, climbers, backpackers, sherpas, cyclists, kayakers, tree huggers, and anyone else with a passion for nature can live together and get outside as often as possible.
British Dorm (Naito III - Southside)
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! British Dourme is a dorm where committed anglophiles and neophytes alike can come together to live in a community that celebrates British culture in all its forms, be it film, colour television, food, music, or whatever strikes your fancy. If you enjoy accents, football, unnecessary additions of the letter “U” to words, or Cornish pasties, this is the dourme for you.
Arabic Culture Dorm (Sullivan I - Southside)
Students interested in the language and cultures of the Arabic-speaking world are invited to join this interest dorm which will be located in Sullivan 1 (south). Students will live with a young Fulbright scholar selected by the Institute of International Education to study at Reed College and enhance Reed community understanding of Middle Eastern cultures and the Arabic language. Students with background in Arabic language who wish to continue their study are particularly encouraged to join this community although all students regardless of language background are encouraged to apply.
Substance Free (Sullivan II - Northside & Sullivan III)
Are you looking for the perfect dorm environment? Do you want a dorm full of fun, creative, accepting members? Love the weekend parties, but prefer to live in a quieter, substance-free space? Never fear! The Sub-Free Dorm is here! As a sub-free community, this dorm agrees to leave tobacco, alcohol, and other substances at the door. Full of wonderful people, a warm atmosphere, and lots of fun, Sub-Free might be your ideal.
The women’s floor is a living option and not a theme dorm. We are still collecting applications so that people who desire to live in a small close community of women can have a place to live. Any spaces that are not filled by applications will become available in the lottery.
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