Top professors and campus leaders are fumbling over their words. As students attend events eager to learn more about SMU this week, faculty members and upperclassmen must continually stop and correct themselves, and it is all because of Residence Life & Student Housing.
“I’ve stayed in a dorm,” said Eddie Hull, Director of Residence Life and Student Housing. “A dorm is a place where you sleep and hold your stuff. A residence hall is where you live.”
This unique terminology is evident across campus. Signs decorate hallways, and information at check-in contains a brief note on why housing is referred to as a residence hall.
“We really want to increase residence hall pride,” Hull said. “We’re going to have shirts and we want to make sure everyone knows to wear red and blue on Fridays.”
Not only are the residence halls a place to live, but also a place to grow, learn and enhance student interest. Themed communities are also offered for students that focus on certain areas and include the fine arts and substance-free communities, among others.
Virginia-Snider Honors Hall is designed to enhance academic performance with room priority given to students enrolled in the University Honors Program and some scholarship recipients. The hall is most known for its discussion groups, classes taught in the building and involved students.
“I chose to live here mainly because I wanted to meet people that were in my classes,” first-year student Katie Walton said. “It’s an awesome location. We’re close to everything and it’s really clean.”
Hilltop Scholars at Perkins Hall offers a special learning program for first-year students where residents can learn together in classes in the residence hall. Also, students who promote healthy living can join others in the Smith Wellness Connection.
“I decided to move over here due to the focus on Perkins and the development of the new Smith hall,” said Christina Manieri, hall director at Perkins & Smith. “The small environment allows for a strong community to be built.”
In addition to residents in Smith setting goals focusing on their physical and spiritual well being, residents agree to remain drug and alcohol free in the residence hall.
“I’m just excited about the growth of the program. [I want] to watch it grow and start some traditions especially for Wellness, since it’s new,” Manieri said. “And this year Hilltop scholars will be going on a retreat, and we want to get residents involved in the planning and promotion of it.”
The Fine Arts Community is comprised of Peyton and Mary Hay Halls and is geared towards an appreciation of the arts.
“I figure being around other artists and other people in my field will inspire me to new ideas and give me a creative spirit,” said Bijan Major, a first-year studio art and graphic design major who lives in Mary Hay. “I’ll probably go home and get everything to set up a work area for my art.”
Residents can take a break from studying by taking advantage of an art studio, a dance floor and the Mary Hay Gallery located in the hall.
On the eastside of campus, the SMU Service House focuses on community involvement.
I came here because I was really interested in community service and why I stayed was because of the community and friendships I formed,” said Laura Muniz, a senior anthropology major who has lived at the house for three years. Rooms for this house are limited to upperclassmen who are dedicated to participating and planning community service activities. In addition to community service, the house organizes house dinners once a week, movie nights and other events.
“It is a great combination of having service opportunities and being around service-minded individuals,” Muniz said. “You really feel like a family and this is like my second family. It’s a much more open feeling and it’s a changing community and it adapts to the people that live in it.”
No matter which hall or community students call home, they’ll just have to adjust to calling it a residence hall and not a dorm.
