Ohio Wesleyan University
 | This article contains academic boosterism which primarily serves to praise or promote the subject and may be a sign of a conflict of interest. (September 2023) |
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| Motto | In lumine tuo videbimus lumen (Latin) |
|---|---|
Motto in English | In Your Light We Shall See the Light |
| Type | Private liberal arts college |
| Established | September 1842 |
Religious affiliation | United Methodist Church[1][2][3][4] |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | $236.3 million (2020)[6] |
| President | Matthew vandenBerg |
Administrative staff | 200 |
| Undergraduates | 1,600 |
| Location | , U.S. |
| Campus | Suburban, 200 acres (81 ha) |
| Colors | Red Black[7] |
| Nickname | Battling Bishops |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III – NCAC |
| Mascot | The Battling Bishop |
| Website | www |
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Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges.[8]
The 200-acre (81 ha) site is 27 miles (44 km) north of Columbus, Ohio. It includes the main academic and residential campus, the Perkins Observatory, and the Kraus Wilderness Preserve.[9]
History[edit]
Founding (1841–1855)[edit]
In 1841, Ohio residents Adam Poe and Charles Elliott decided to establish a university "of the highest order" in central Ohio.[10] To that end, they purchased the Mansion House Hotel, a former health resort with its Sulphur Spring, using funds raised from local residents.[11][12] Poe and Elliott wrote a charter emphasizing "the democratic spirit of teaching", which was approved by the Ohio State Legislature. Early in the following year they opened the college preparatory academy and formed a board of trustees.[13] Ohio Wesleyan University, named (like several other U.S. colleges and universities) after John Wesley, founder of Methodism, opened on November 13, 1844, as a Methodist-related but nonsectarian institution, with a College of Liberal Arts for male students.[14][15][16]
Ohio Wesleyan's first president, Edward Thomson, stated in his inaugural address on August 5, 1846, that the school was "a product of the liberality of the local people."[17] This liberal philosophy contributed to Ohio Wesleyan's vocal opposition to slavery in the 1850s.[18][19][20] In the annual celebration for George Washington's birthday in 1862, second president Frederick Merrick endorsed Ohio Wesleyan's "ideals of democracy" during his oration.[20]
Early growth (1855–1930)[edit]
During the mid-19th century, Ohio Wesleyan focused on attracting students, adding fields of study, and fundraising, by which it significantly increased its endowment.[21] Sturges Hall was constructed as the university's first library in 1855.[22] In 1873, the school added the Department of Natural History housed in Merrick Hall.[23] The Ohio Wesleyan Female College, established in 1853, merged with the university in 1877.[24][25] Between 1876 and 1888, enrollment tripled and music education greatly increased, yet no major buildings were built in this time.[26][27]
By the end of the 19th century, Ohio Wesleyan had added a School of Music (1877), School of Fine Arts (1877), School of Oratory (1894), and Business School (1895) to the original College of Liberal Arts (founded in 1844).[28] To address the need for new departments and specialized instruction, the administration improved the facilities and courses to make them on par with OWU's new academic position. University Hall, Slocum Library, extensions to the Monnett campus, and athletic facilities were all constructed during that period.[29]
Between 1891 and 1895, Ohio Wesleyan specialized the curriculum by establishing departments for physics, zoology, geology, speech, history, French, English, and economics.[30] This specialization encouraged undergraduates to continue studies at graduate level, allowed professional preparation for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and promoted exchange study in Europe.[31] Two professional schools for law and medicine were formed in 1896.
In 1905, the board of trustees decided to keep Ohio Wesleyan a college, despite the expansion of the curriculum and campus and the word "university" in the institution's name.[32] The Bachelor of Science degree was abolished, which left only the Bachelor of Arts. Two students were selected as Rhodes Scholars in 1905 and 1909.[33] Edwards Gymnasium was built in 1906.[34] In 1907, the United Societies of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest undergraduate honor society in the United States, installed the "Eta of Ohio" ΦΒΚ chapter on campus.[35] In 1909, the school added Sanborn Hall, housing the Music Department.[36]
In the 1920s, academic requirements for the bachelor's degree were reduced, and Latin and mathematics were no longer emphasized.[37] During the presidency of John W. Hoffman (1916–1928), the academy and School of Business were closed; the academy had started in 1842 as a preparatory school, and throughout its seventy-five years frequently outnumbered the college in enrollment.[38] Also in the 1920s, the chapel service was dropped and sororities were formed. Ohio Wesleyan also increased the number of buildings on campus, including Selby Stadium, Austin Manor, and Perkins Observatory; another building, Stuyvesant Hall, was in planning; and Edgar Hall was opened.[39]
Curriculum changes (1930–1984)[edit]
During the Great Depression, both enrollment and alumni donations shrank.[40] While the faculty size remained stable, lack of tuition and alumni revenues precipitated financial problems which threatened the college's survival in the administrations of Edmund D. Soper (1928–1938), Acting President Edward Loranus Rice (1938–1939), and Herbert John Burgstahler (1939–1949).[41]
The administration adjusted the curriculum during the early 1930s to address these problems.[42] Greek and Latin declined, while business administration and economics thrived and the highest enrollments were in the social sciences, English, pre-medicine, and history. The registrar reported that, in these years, the number of students from New England states, urban Ohio areas, and from international locations increased. By the 1930s, the Methodist students were a minority among the student body;[43] formal ties to the Methodist church were severed in the 1920s[44] and led to debate among board members in the 1930s, eventually resulting in the university's current active but loose historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church.[45] In a study into the relationship between American educational institutions and the Christian denominations they were historically affiliated with, James Tunstead Burtuchell writes that it was during this period that "in its personnel, its resources, and its students", Ohio Wesleyan lost its "symbiotic intimacy with the United Methodist Church."[46]
In 1946, Ohio Wesleyan introduced a new "Centennial Curriculum", which enacted seven distribution requirements across the sciences and humanities; the new requirement for a foreign language course was added to the existing humanities requirement.[47] Thomson and Bashford Halls, originally men's dorms, were built between 1951 and 1954.[47] In the 1960s, faculty, staff and administrators fought over administrative structure and control.[48] They eventually settled on a new "statement of aims" that stressed values, rather than religious goal statements, and instituted a more internationalized curriculum, a new Women's Studies Program, and an International Business major; the faculty senate also introduced a new academic calendar with three 10.5-week terms.[49]
Thomas Wenzlau's presidency (1968–1984) began with the challenge of campus unrest: Ohio Wesleyan students took over the ROTC building, demanded its shut-down, and eventually eliminated ROTC in 1970.[50][51] Students also demanded participation in departmental meetings and faculty committees, and the democratic process in the governance of Ohio Wesleyan grew in this period.[52] Wenzlau's presidency witnessed decline in students' test scores, an unusually high attrition rate, lack of adequate research to identify potential major donors and a growing "party school" image,[53] leading to a rocky relationship between him and the student body.[54] Between 1979 and 1982, the campus newspaper The Transcript frequently criticized Wenzlau's presidency, blaming it for "severely affecting the reputation of the college".[55] This exchange resulted in a Washington Post report on the school that eventually precipitated the end of Wenzlau's presidency.[56]
Contemporary period (1984–present)[edit]
The president, David Warren, increased admission standards in 1985, engaged students in a "live-in" presidency, expanded media exposure and established a National Colloquium focused on the liberal arts. Warren engaged in forty-one interviews on the ABC and NBC networks.[57]
More recently, Ohio Wesleyan has achieved several academic and athletic recognitions. A 1986 study, titled "Educating America's Scientists: The Role of the Research Colleges," identified Ohio Wesleyan as one of 48 highly selective "science-active" liberal arts institutions in the nation.[58] The Battling Bishops won NCAA Division III national championships in men's basketball (1988) and men's (1998, 2011) and women's (2001, 2002) soccer.[34] Despite these efforts, Ohio Wesleyan is one of many liberal arts colleges in the United States that is experiencing declining enrollment. The 2017 incoming class was 9% smaller than the year before.[59]
Ohio Wesleyan continues to undertake construction projects. The Hamilton-Williams Campus Center opened in 1991. The Memorial Union Building was renovated in 2001 to accommodate the Economics Department, the Academic Resource Center, the Information Services portion of the combined Libraries and Information Services department, and the Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship. The Schimmel/Conrades Science Center opened in 2004 to provide 52,000 square feet (4,800 m2) of additional space for the science departments.[60] In 2011, the Meek Aquatics Center opened as a state-of-the-art facility, also used by the Delaware community.[61] In 2018, the university opened the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at OWU in collaboration with the City of Delaware and Delaware County.[62] In 2019, Ohio Wesleyan announced an ambitious Residential Renewal project, committing $60M to renovating existing buildings and the construction of a new village of apartments.[63]
Academics[edit]
Profile[edit]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| Liberal arts | |
| U.S. News & World Report[64] | 116 of 185 |
| Washington Monthly[65] | 158 of 199 |
| National | |
| WSJ/College Pulse[66] | 204 (tie) of 600 |
Ohio Wesleyan University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, and is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association,[67][68] the Oberlin Group,[69] and the Five Colleges of Ohio, a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges which also includes Kenyon College, Oberlin College, The College of Wooster, and Denison University.[8] For 2011, Ohio Wesleyan accepted approximately 52% of its regular decision applicants, 33% of its transfer applicants, and had a yield rate of 26%.[70][71][72] In 2010, the college accepted 36% of its international applicants.[73] The middle 50% range of matriculating students for the class of 2010 was 1125–1320 for the SAT (old scale) and 24–30 for the ACT.[74] Approximately 35% of accepted applicants were granted internal scholarships.[75] Ohio Wesleyan follows a need-blind admission policy; financial circumstances are not considered when deciding whether to admit applicants.[76] As of 2010, OWU's 1,950 students come from 43 states and 57 countries; 47% are from Ohio, 11% are international, and 54% are female.[77] The student body is about 10% Asian, 6% Hispanic, and 9% Black. Fifty-nine percent of Ohio Wesleyan students claim no religious affiliation.[78] The student-faculty ratio is 11:1 and faculty members teach all classes.[79] Excluding independent studies and senior theses, nearly 60% of Ohio Wesleyan's class sections have fewer than twenty students enrolled.[80] Ohio Wesleyan is generally known for a strong "left-leaning" student body and an administration with a "permissive" attitude. In 2007, 60% of OWU students favored the Democratic Party.[81] In its 2015 edition of U.S. college rankings, Niche (company) ranked Ohio Wesleyan 56th (out of 880 colleges) most politically liberal college in the U.S.[82]
Ohio Wesleyan admits students of all cultures, lifestyles, and socio-economic backgrounds. An index examining gay-friendly policies places OWU among the nation's gay-friendly colleges,[83][84] and the university enacts policies to meet the six criteria developed by the Campus-Pride organization for recruiting and supporting students from a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population.[85][86] Nearly 18% of students at Ohio Wesleyan receive Federal Pell Grants, which mostly go to students whose family incomes are below $40,000.[87] This measure indicates the degree to which economically disadvantaged groups are represented at OWU.[88]
The faculty consists of 142 tenured members. As of 2010, all the university's tenured or tenure-track faculty members hold a PhD or other terminal degree.[89] The faculty is 37% female and 63% male, with 10% from underrepresented groups. Also as of 2006, women constitute 37% of the tenured professors and earn 94% of what male professors earn – numbers which suggest favorable gender circumstances.[90]
Curriculum, degrees and majors[edit]
Freshmen are paired early in their first year with academic advisors who oversee their students' academic progress.[91] Upon completing 34 units of coursework, students may earn diplomas in Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or Bachelor of Music.[92] Ohio Wesleyan has research departments and teaching faculties in most academic disciplines; as of 2019, OWU offered nearly 90 majors.[93]
In its early days, OWU's curriculum began with classical studies, for the course catalogue maintained that "the classical course in Greek and Latin and pure mathematics bring correctness in mental processes that an applied art, or a living and slightly inflected language, do not permit."[94] Scientific courses were added to Ohio Wesleyan's curriculum in 1849, and since then, scientific subjects have become a foundation to the liberal arts curriculum.[95] OWU also has a highly respected music department.[96]
Its most popular majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:[97]
- Zoology/Animal Biology (23)
- Psychology (21)
- Sports, Kinesiology, & Physical Education/Fitness (16)
- Business Administration & Management (15)
- History (15)
- Political Science & Government (12)
Emphasis on internationalism[edit]
Ohio Wesleyan has upheld academic internationalism since its early years; since the 19th century, the college has established links with several international schools. In 1879, OWU alumna Elizabeth Russell founded Kwassui Women's College in Nagasaki, Japan, when predominant Japanese culture considered women's education unimportant.[98] Today, Kwassui College is one of the top finishing schools for young women in Japan.[99] In 1899, William Ehnis (from the class of 1898) traveled to Africa and opened a school in Mutare, Zimbabwe, that eventually became the Africa University.[100] Ada M. Coe was an early woman Spanish Professor here in 1917.[101]
The school also manifests international interest in the percentage of international students it recruits and enrolls annually. Since 1983, Ohio Wesleyan has been listed in U.S. News & World Report among colleges that attract the highest percentage of international students.[102][103][104][105] The percentage of international students grew in the early and mid-1990s.[106][107] In a study adjusted for school size, Ohio Wesleyan came ninth among 118 American colleges and universities in total aid awards to international students and 69th in average award per international student among both large universities and small liberal arts colleges.[108] South East Asian students have significantly contributed to this growth.[109] The United Nations flag, along with the flags of more than sixty represented nations and the U.S. flag, flies in University Hall in honor of the ideal of peaceful international relations.[110]
High participation in formal exchange programs constitutes a third target of the school's international focus.[111] Under a Great Lakes Colleges Association agreement, OWU established an exchange program with Waseda University in 1962 to provide approximately 30 American students with opportunities to study in Japan and 30 Japanese students to study at Ohio Wesleyan each year.[112] The Salamanca program, founded by Conrad Kent in 1988,[113] conducts the exchange of approximately one hundred students and faculty between OWU and the University of Salamanca in Spain. The academic collaboration frequently extends to joint participation in academic symposia: in 1993, members of the Salamanca faculty participated in a symposium on the Golden Age in Salamanca.[114]
Libraries[edit]
The Beeghly Library is the main library of OWU. The library contains nearly 500,000 volumes in its collection, and is also home to the Archives of Ohio United Methodism, the Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Artifacts collection, as well as an archival collection of materials related to the history of the university.
The Hobson Science Library is part of the Schimmel Conrades Science Center and supports research in the earth, life, and physical sciences.[115]
OWU has 11 full-time librarians, with subject liaisons for each academic department, as well as a full-time archivist.[116]
Campus[edit]
The Ohio Wesleyan campus is next to downtown Delaware, and is bisected by Sandusky Street, the main north–south street through the heart of the city. The street informally divides the campus into an eastern sector composed mainly of academic buildings and a western sector composed mainly of residential and administrative buildings. Many facilities have been constructed in the last two years, with substantial benefit to science, art, and athletic programs on campus.
Other facilities and off-campus programs[edit]
OWU operates several facilities outside campus: The Philadelphia Business Center, Wesleyan in Washington, The New York Arts Program for the performing, visual, and media arts (a GLCA arts program), Perkins Observatory, The Strand Theatre, and the Kraus Wilderness Preserve.
Perkins Observatory is situated in Delaware on land separate to the main campus.[118] The observatory is named after Hiram Perkins, a former professor of mathematics and astronomy at the college.[119] When the observatory was built in 1931, it housed the third-largest telescope in the world, which has since been moved to Arizona.[120] The Perkins dome now houses a 32-inch (810 mm) telescope, which is the second-largest in Ohio.
The university also maintains offices for study abroad, US domestic study, and internship programs. Such programs include: Wesleyan in Washington, which allows students to study for a semester in Washington, D.C., in research and internship positions.[121] The Philadelphia Center offers students hundreds of internship and field placement opportunities off-campus and the chance to live independently.[122] and the New York Arts Program, which allows students of the arts to gain a semester of hands on experience in the arts in New York City.[123]
Community relations[edit]
OWU has strong community ties with the City of Delaware.[124] Students participate in Delaware's community through a variety of educational, social, and cultural programs. The student-led Columbus Initiative, founded in 1989, is an experiential learning partnership between OWU and Columbus public schools.[125] More than 150 Ohio Wesleyan students from this program tutor and mentor underprivileged pupils from Columbus.[126]
The Ohio Wesleyan Ambassadors Program (ISAP) promotes cultural diversity and ethnic awareness within the local community,[127] and exposes international students to American culture through the community. The program's ambassadors visit local schools to give presentations and participate in events for local non-profit community organizations.[127]
Campus organizations cooperate with local residents on issues of civic engagement and activism. Progress OWU allows students from Ohio Wesleyan and local schools to express their voices on politics, public policy, and corporate and social issues, both on campus and in the local community.[128]
Cultural programs also take part in community relations. In the 1960s, Ohio Wesleyan donated the Arts Castle, then part of the Fine Arts department, to the City of Delaware. It is now home to the Delaware County Cultural Arts Center. The Arts Castle hosts a variety of community programs in art, and offers classes ranging from ballet to fine arts.[129] In 2004, the OWU received a donation to rehabilitate the historic Strand Theatre in downtown Delaware.[130]
The university and the City of Delaware sponsor several events in town throughout the year: the Delaware Arts Festival, the Little Brown Jug, the Delaware County Fair, and the Castle Arts Affair.[131] The Delaware Arts Festival is an annual event held the weekend after Mother's Day on the streets of Historic Downtown Delaware.[132] The festival hosts over 170 booths featuring works of local, regional, and other artists. OWU professors chair the committees that select winners.[133] The Little Brown Jug, a harness race, is run during the Delaware County Fair in September.[134] The OWU president and the college mascot traditionally award the trophy for the first division of the first heat of the race.[135]
Student life[edit]
Organizations and activities[edit]
Ohio Wesleyan University has 95 student clubs and organizations.[136] The university offers three chapels as well as several Christian and other religious groups for its students.[137][138] Its social organizations cover a wide range of interests, including chess, ultimate, finance, and medieval sword fighting.[139] There are two a cappella singing groups on campus, "The OWtsiders," a student-run group formed in 1999, and the all-female "Pitch Black" established in 2005.[140] Another entertainment-related club is "The Babbling Bishops", an improvisational comedy troupe.[141] The "Babbling Bishops" started in the fall of 1990 when a group of theatre concentration students formed a performance-oriented project for their theatre degrees. The project became an improv comedy troupe, rehearsing in Stuyvesant Hall and performing with other college improv troupes since 1996.[142]
Socially conscious students can join organizations such as the activist group "Young Democratic Socialists" or participate in student government groups, such as the Campus Programming Board and the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs.[11] The "PRIDE" organization offers support to OWU's LGBT students.[143]
Fewer than a third of Ohio Wesleyan's students are involved in Greek life,[144] but that percentage has fluctuated significantly throughout the university's history.[145] All six fraternities and five sororities on campus are currently involved in many philanthropic and community programs.[146] The OWU chapter of Phi Kappa Psi (Phi Psi) was closed after the death of Luke Anthony Gabbert, a pledge who fell into a creek in 2016 after drinking large amounts of alcohol.[147]
OWU's oldest student organizations are its literary clubs, including a number of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. The school's student-run weekly newspaper, The Transcript, is the oldest continuously published, independent, college newspaper in the United States.[148] The OWL, an annual literary publication, features students' work and is one of the nation's oldest college literary magazines.[149] Other student publications include The Civic Arts Review, the electronic Connect2OWU bulletin, and @Wesleyan, a quarterly online magazine.[150] OWU Radio, formerly WSLN, broadcasts from Phillips Hall, and offers show times to students, faculty, and local citizens of Delaware.
The university also has a student government, the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA).
Activism[edit]
Activism as represented in OWU's founding vision has had a significant role in Ohio Wesleyan's history.[151][152]
The first president, Edward Thomson, staunchly supported the abolition of slavery and liberalism.[152] Other individuals associated with the university have fought racism. Branch Rickey, an alumnus, broke the racial barrier in baseball.[153] Mary King, a civil rights activist,[154] worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S. civil rights movement while she was a staff member of OWU's Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).[155][156] In the 1980s, Ohio Wesleyan's administration fully divested holdings connected to South Africa.[157][158] As of September 2007, Ohio Wesleyan joined a small group of liberal colleges that opposed the methodology and questioned the usefulness of U.S. News & World Report college rankings, despite the fact that the magazine ranked Ohio Wesleyan highly.[159]
OWU has partisan political groups ranging from liberal to socialist, such the College Democrats and Young Democratic Socialists of America, and several activism awareness groups such as Black Men of the Future, Black Student Union (formerly Student Union on Black Awareness), PRIDE, Viva Latinx, and Rafiki Wa Afrika. Many students complete internships for state representatives in the nearby state capitol, Columbus.[160][161]
Traditions[edit]
Many Ohio Wesleyan traditions originate from its early years. Monnett Weekend, beginning in 1896, welcomes female alumni, parents, and friends of the university. Events include a "People's Parade" with clowns, banners and marching, faculty lectures, Maypole dancing, Choral Arts Society, and an all-campus carnival.[162][163] It started as a girls' athletic fête held at the Monnett Athletic Club for Mothers Day. All events were held at the Monnett Campus, where female students danced around the Maypole, while men were barred. The men, in turn, developed their own tradition: they arrived at Monnett Campus early in the morning, and concealed themselves in trees to watch the festivities, discreetly.[164]
In 1884, Ohio Wesleyan held its first Mock Convention, which has recurred in every United States presidential election year since 1920.[165] Its purpose is to inform participants, students, faculty staff, and Ohio residents about the presidential nominating convention,[166] presidential candidate, and key issues in the upcoming election.[167]
Beginning in the 1920s, all freshmen were required to wear "dinks", red caps with black brims and a black W on the front.[168] This tradition ended in the 1960s. The freshman class of 1957 wore dinks for half the first semester.[169]
Ohio Wesleyan's Homecoming takes place in early October,[170] while the Ohio Wesleyan football team plays one of its traditional rivals.
The President's Ball, a recent gala organized by the college president, takes place on the first Saturday of December.[171] Other traditions include OWU vs. Denison, which stages a "fierce" athletic rivalry between Ohio Wesleyan and Denison University;[172] the Sagan Colloquium, spanning the fall semester, recently expanded to include the spring semester, which consists of speeches focusing on an issue of concern to the liberal arts;[173] and Orchesis, an annual celebration of modern dance and the arts, which occurs at the end of the academic year. "Fresh-X" is an optional program for newly admitted students that occurs just before orientation in which students may choose between hiking, backpacking and other outdoor activities to make friends with their new classmates.[174]
The campus used to host two major musical events, Unity through Music and Springfest. Unity through Music occurred once a year in the fall semester, and covered various musical styles in a carnival atmosphere, during the day; during the evening, a huge dance is held in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center.[175] Springfest, the second musical event, proceeded in mid-April and had featured well-known music groups such as Counting Crows, The Roots, Guster, Ben Folds, and Gym Class Heroes. It was organized by the Campus Programming Board, who have changed the name to "Bishop Bash," in an attempt to create more campus pride.[176]
A rock next to Hayes Hall has been part of the residential campus for the last 50 years, and students continually repaint it with graffiti and slogans.[177]
Housing[edit]
The university can house up to 1,600 students on campus.[178] First-year students are required to live on campus in Smith Hall during their first two semesters. A lottery system matches second to fourth-year students with dormitories and another lottery system determines how many students are allowed to live in off-campus housing. Housing options include dormitories, small living units, fraternities, and cooperative housing.[179]
Thomson, Bashford, Stuyvesant, and Smith Halls are large mid-rise dormitories on campus. Welch Hall is designated as a "quiet" dorm for honors students.[180] Hayes Hall is an all-female dorm.[181]
Approximately 90 non-freshmen students live in Small Living Units (SLUs), which are co-ops united voluntarily to meet shared economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations in democratically controlled houses. The houses allow students to live cooperatively with one another by sharing regularly scheduled house chores, participating in the decision process, and, in some, sharing the cooking duties. Each unit houses a group of 10–17 students, and is organized to promote a common theme, usually indicated by the co-op's name. As of the 2022–2023 academic year, the SLUs consist of The Creative Arts House
