program houses and traditional halls

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>This was quoted in another forum -
 “There are two types of dorms: program houses and traditional halls. Program houses have a specific theme, like music or culture, for instance. If you are interested in a program house, then you apply to that house and hopefully get accepted. The traditional halls are regular. They’re all quite nice, although some are better than others.” </p>

<p>It sounds like accomodation in program houses are scarce. Can anybody from Cornell confirm this? Also, is there a list of the themes from the program houses? What is the difference between the two - your preferences/choices and why?</p>

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<p><a href="http://housing.cornell.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://housing.cornell.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>program house accomidations are not scarce. I prefer a regular dorm though. You find a few people who would fit into each program house in a regular dorm, and I really like that.</p>

4

<p>Accomodation in the program houses are not scarce at all. If you choose a particular house, you'll probably get a room there.</p>

<p>Personally, I'm against the program houses. With the exception of JAM (Just about music), it basically amounts to self-imposed racial segregation. An important aspect of college is to expose yourself to people from a variety of backgrounds and culture. By immersing yourself in only one culture, usually your own, you severely limit your views and personal growth. Besides, there are numerous cultural organizations that exist for socializing with and meeting people of specific backgrounds.</p>

5

<p>yeah, forgot to make that point--a lot of the houses are ethnic/racial. black, latino, american indian...and there's the "Multicultural living learning unit" (mcllu) which is just all underrepresented minorities. I think they're stupid, especially mcllu--the campus would be more multicultural if they weren't all living in the basement of dickson.</p>

<p>I don't see a need for most of the program houses anyway for freshmen. Freshmen should meet all kinds of people. In my hall there are all kinds of majors, at least several people of every major race, several international students from interesting places like s. korea and pakistan, a bunch of guitarists, 3 pianists, several singers, two trumpeters, a drummer...this is all in a regular hall...</p>

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<p>Just throwing this out there...
Ecology House, Risley, and the Transfer Center aren't segregated along racial lines...and personally I think they're a great idea if someone goes for that sort of thing. I'm in the TC this semester and it's been nice to be in a building with people who are <em>all</em> in the same boat. And I do know that, for example, Eco house allows you to have small caged animals and does a lot of activities as a group, and Risley hosts different events and such. No word on how it is to get into one, though. I did apply to be in Risley but I believe I put TC higher on my preferences so here I am.</p>

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<p>How would you rate the TC rakem?</p>

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<p>As far as programs/activities available to us, I'd rate it well. We had a lot of cool little trips/activities during orientation week, and since then we've done a cruise, I believe there was a trip to a Yankees game and another to a Broadway play...and tonight there's a pre-finals study break. There was a contest going on to see who could decorate their hall the best for Halloween and my floor won (no thanks to me, I was busy :/ )...</p>

<p>As far as the rooms, etc...it's nothing amazing but the rooms are decent, there's a tv room and a study lounge and a tiny kitchen...pretty basic stuff but it is what you make of it.</p>

<p>As far as noise levels, social life...it was a lot louder at night when it was warm and people would stand outside (under my window) and talk. Nothing too crazy. It's been very quiet this past week with finals approaching.</p>

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<p>What's JAM? Sounds interesting.</p>

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<p>JAM = just about music. it has practice rooms and a recording studio. I do approve of the non ethnic themed transfer centers. While I would personally rather be exposed to all types of interests and i find i get a little of every program house, if you will, in the regular dorm, I do think things like eco, jam, and especially transfer center, are good. If i were a transfer i would live in TC my first year, because everyone would be new and that would be nice.</p>

<p>the programs rakem described are fun. dickson had a food night last night where every RA cooked for us in a kitchen (there are like 10 kitchens) for free. and the other day we had dickson/court/bauer/mews free ice skating at lynah. lots of fun stuff like that happens. two of the RAs gave a "lecture" on sex toys in my dorm which i'll bet was funny, (I didn't go), and I remember I had a great time at the meeting where the RAs taught us all the hockey cheers and traditions, complete with diagrams, videos on the 50" TV in our lounge (great for halo :D), and sound bites.</p>

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<p>I got a serious problem. I LOVE rock music and playing guitar. BUT I CANT STAND ANY OTHER FORM OF MUSIC - NO PUNK, HIP HOP AND ESPECIALLY NO POP. IT just makes me sick. Is JAM right for me?</p>

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<p>nobody makes you listen to other people's music wherever you go: this is what headphones are for. And you should diversify your musical interests. That's pretty closed minded only to like rock. If you like rock, you should try listening to fusion, blues, and old school RnB, from which rock is derived.</p>

<p>I'm down on the whole program house idea in general, but if you want to be immersed in music, then JAM is a good place. It wouldn't be much harder to find people to start a rock band if you weren't in jam. I met 3 drummers (the instrumentalist i believe to be in shortest supply in general) before I even got to campus just through facebook and myspace and whatever.</p>

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<p>Ya I know, I'm pretty closed minded about my musical interests. Dont mean to offend anyone. For some reason, I dont even like blues that much. It's just my opinion. Anyway, what I meant is that people dont blast their music anywhere else other than, say, an auditorium or the like right? I guess the 'headphones' bit explains that.</p>

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<p>The program houses obviously hold more programs/events (with the funding help from the program house fees), but there is no lack of free campus-wide events, and traditional halls are usually very good too. The Traditional halls on North are usually better.</p>

15

<p>These are the program houses:
Jewish Living Center
EcoHouse
Akwe:kon
Latino Living Center(LLC)
Just About Music(JAM)
Multicultural Living Learning Unit(McLLU)
Holland International Living Center(HILC)
Ujamaa
Risley</p>

<p>All are interest based. Whether you are interested in the theatre arts, music, Native American culture, the environment, African continent and it's Diaspora, Latino culture. </p>

<p>Or maybe you are an international student that won't be able to go home for breaks and you would like to live somewhere that is open during breaks then HILC is for you. Or you could live there if you would like to meet students from other countries, which is really cool in my opinion. </p>

<p>Maybe you just want to live in amongst a variety of cultures. A residential program where there will be events held to celebrate different backgrounds. And, no, multicultural does not mean non-white. I don't know where someone got the idea that McLLU was for underrepresented minorities. That's the most ridiculous, ignorant statement I've heard about it. </p>

<p>Maybe you would like to live someplace where your Jewish culture is recognized and celebrated or you would like to know more about the Jewish culture.Then the Jewish Living Center is for you. </p>

<p>None of these dorms require a skin color or background, they are there to celebrate interests in these areas. People in these dorms do not segregate. I live in Uj and i do not require that you live there to come up and talk to me, nor do I know of anyone else here like that. I believe that to think that way is pretty elementary and shows your fear of stepping out of your comfort zone by blaming "us". </p>

<p>All these residential units hold events for the entire Cornell community and anyone is welcome. You do not have to live there to visit and look around. They are pretty cool places, museums in themselves. </p>

<p>From what I know of Ujamaa and LLC, they were founded to supplement the Africana and Latino Studies departments, respectively, at Cornell. These are areas of expertise that Cornell is known globally for. There are not only students that claim Black or Latino that study in these fields either. And I think that it is disrespectful to disregard the students of other ethnicities that live in these program houses, by choice, and who love it. </p>

<p>If you have any questions about any of the program houses feel free to PM me or post.</p>

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<p>umm, Risley probably has the most musicians outside JAM. Everyone plays an instrument here. well, almost everyone. but yea, we have a recording studio here too and people jam there a lot. it's tight.</p>