Residential college on the Hill gets suite makeover

New programing and a new location are meant to revamp this year’s Humanities Residential College, an on-campus housing option that caters to residents’ interests in the humanities.

The residential college was established three years ago by the Office of Residential Life , the UCLA Division of Humanities and UCLA Housing, featuring several events centered around the arts. This year, the number of events planned per quarter have nearly quadrupled from one to two events per quarter in previous years to seven, said Kyle McJunkin, director of curriculum coordination. Another major upgrade is the addition of HRC Fiat Lux classes taught on the Hill for students in the college.

The location of the college also changed this fall, moving to Hedrick Hall from Hitch Residential Suites, which is now under renovation. More than 50 freshman and transfer students applied to live in the HRC this year. It houses about 90 students in total,McJunkin said.

“(The program) offers a connection to get involved with the artistic and humanistic aspects of campus and of Los Angeles,” said David Schaberg, dean of the division of humanities.

Events this year have included a private tour of the J. Paul Getty Museum with a curator of the museum and a dinner with members of the humanities faculty, said McJunkin.

The three Fiat Lux seminars offered this quarter to HRC students include seminar topics that range from great American poets of the 20th century to Buddhism.

HRC events attempt to foster more intimate relationships between students and humanities faculty in an informal setting, said Carol Bakhos, the former chairwoman of the Humanities Residential College Advisory Committee and professor in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department.

“It’s not only students who are interested in getting to know their professors. The faculty of the humanities appreciate the opportunity to spend time with students outside the classroom,” Bakhos said.

Kyle Barron, a first-year mechanical engineering student, said he chose the program because he can only take five general education courses and the residential college represented a chance to expand on his passions for learning about culture and language.

The residential college differs from other themed floors on the Hill because it is specifically tied to a department and offers specific courses, said Megan Fox, resident director of Hedrick Hall.

About 40 students on the floor did not apply for the residential college, but anyone – including those that don’t live on the floor – can participate in the events that are put on through the program. So far, only students on the floor have asked to join the residential college events, McJunkin said.

While last year’s program also included special activities, such as an outing to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lena Kristy, a second-year world arts and cultures student who lived in the residential college last year, said the living situation was not always ideal. She added that the suites are not generally as social as the residential halls, like Hedrick Hall.

“Hitch was more lonely than I would have wanted and so separate from the rest of campus,” Kristy said. “But some people did participate in the activities, and there was a kind of Hitch community.”

McJunkin said that because Hitch is a residential suite without many common areas, there is no guarantee of interaction among students. However, residential halls such as Hedrick Hall that have features such as communal bathrooms are generally more social.

Barron said that the change in location of the program strongly influenced his decision to apply to the HRC.

However, there are still students on the floor who do not know about the programs offered.

Oliver Yang, a first-year electrical engineering student who did not apply to be on the floor, said he could not tell the difference between his floor and any other floor in Hedrick Hall, and wasn’t aware of the events taking place.

“I can’t say I enjoy (the humanities); I don’t have time to,” Yang said.

Although some students said they were not aware of the floor’s programs, McJunkin said he maintains a Listserv to keep students up to date on floor events, as do resident assistants at floor meetings.

For next year, the current plan is to keep the floor on Hedrick Hall again, Fox said.