"Community #1: Curtis-Drake
The Curtis-Drake community is Colgate’s first RLC. In 2015 it will accommodate about 200 first-year students and 200 sophomore students. Its annex will be located at 100 Broad St., where some affiliated junior and senior students will live.
Curtis-Drake RLC residents will help pave the way for students of the future by creating a name for the community, establishing engaging and meaningful traditions, and piloting programs that will enhance the residential and curricular experience."
Is this a way for the students who are not in frats to have a chance to form a community or is it to help students who struggle academically (i.e. learning community) to be near faculty members? I’m not quite getting the picture here-anyone know more about it?
RLCs are a new concept, envisioned in the strategic plan of 2 years ago and another option for living and learning with their accommodation and social programs and buildings on the Hill and along Broad Street, the site of most of the themed residences and Greek Houses. For the next 4-5 years another will be added- as planned for now. This is nothing to do with struggling students so it’s more of the former in a way.
Just looking for other options for my son who is a junior and starting to look more closely at colleges. Since W&L seems to be a very Greek heavy school we wanted to see how comfortable he would be there-he’s not into the idea of frats.
The dynamic represented by the Colgate RLC plan makes great sense. There are 5 fraternities and 8-9 theme houses and in a couple of years the RLCs- a smart and well resourced alternative.
Google colgate strategic plan for the Nov., 2013 document. It’s a very managable 10 pages and you will see other priorities, all underway at this time.
This is a note from someone intimately acquainted with the RLC that will be opening this fall at Colgate. As noted by Markham, eventually all students at Colgate will be affiliated with an RLC, but the RLCs are being rolled out one at a time so that the residences can be renovated and/or added to before each RLC opens. Once the RLCs have all opened in around 4 years, nearly all of the first-years and sophomores will be living “up the hill” in close proximity to each other and to the main quad. There are two key goals that led Colgate to adopt the RLC model: 1) to create a stronger sense of community among students, both within years and across years, and 2) to create more robust opportunities for academic engagement and learning outside the classroom. I am happy to answer any more specific questions if you’ve got them. I think that this is a very exciting new direction for Colgate!
Here is more about the Residential Commons housing option at Colgate which is being launched this week with the arrival of the Class of 2019. The RC called Curtis-Drake/100 Broad Street Commons is the first of four. All freshmen and sophomores will be engaged within them by 2018.
This is information which I just happened to notice was recently posted on Colgate’s website. I expect you will find the FAQs especially helpful: