Discussing The Future of Residential Life at MIT

[Matthew J Davis]

Dear Undergraduates,


Over the past semester, as part of the Student Housing Advisory Committee (SHAC), a group of student leaders met to share concerns of undergraduates with the Chancellor. In light of the arrival of the new Vice President of Student Life coupled with future West Campus and East Campus planning, the committee decided to engage undergraduates in a discussion about the future of the residential experience at MIT. This is an exciting opportunity for students to collaborate directly with senior MIT leadership on a level that has never before been seen at MIT.


For the past few months, SHAC has been designing a strategy to gather information and engage the entire campus. Throughout the fall, you may have engaged in sessions in dormitories, as well as fraternities and sororities, to discuss the ideals of a residential living system. Moreover, in October, an email was sent to all undergraduates inviting you to participate in an undergraduate workshop on the ideal residential experience held in the Student Center. You may also have noticed a post on discussion.mit.edu<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/> (<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>“M<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>IT<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/> R<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>es<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>id<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>en<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>ti<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>al<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/> P<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>la<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>nn<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>in<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>g <https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/> Pl<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>an<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>ni<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>ng<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/>”)<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/3f/mit_residential_planning_planning/> earlier this semester asking undergraduates to share their thoughts on the ideal residential experience. The outcome of these conversations was a document outlining the ideals of an MIT residential system, which can be found here<http://chancellor.mit.edu/shac>.


Moving forward, we hope to broaden the conversation and invite all undergraduates to help us advance the future of residential life at MIT. This conversation is about evaluating our residential system and discussing ways in which it could be improved. From establishing residential support networks to working with architects to design the best residential spaces possible, if it is connected to the residential experience, we want our campus to talk about it.

In the coming weeks, you will receive invitations to participate in discussions, as well as a survey, about residential life and learning. However, we would like to hear from you about how you would like to be engaged and how best to involve students in the planning of the future of our undergraduate residential community. Ultimately, we envision this being a conversation where our community can have a dialogue together and as one community create the best residential university possible.


Accordingly, we invite you to please share your thoughts on engagement on this <https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/44/chat_with_shac/> discussion.mit.edu<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/44/chat_with_shac/> thread (“Chat with SHAC”)<https://discussion.mit.edu/r/campuslife/comments/44/chat_with_shac/>. We also encourage you to fill out this google form<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MIcw0A7jjwjOPSDQ15cDBHJ6L_KTRdOStpRCudm8k68/viewform> to share any thoughts anonymously. Finally, we hope you email shac-students at mit.edu<mailto:shac-students at mit.edu> with any questions, concerns, or suggestions you may have about this conversation moving forward.


Thank you for your time.


Sincerely,


Student Housing Advisory Committee<http://chancellor.mit.edu/shac>

shac-students at mit.edu

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