First-Year Residential Communities

Through the First-Year Experience, students will be provided an array of opportunities to develop personally and academically within their residential community. Students' first year at DePauw is a pivotal time for their development, therefore all first-year students are placed in one of the four first-year dedicated residence halls that aim to develop a common, inclusive and supportive experience. Our purpose is intentional, focusing on their transitions and providing the best resources and support for students as they acclimate to DePauw. Each residence community provides programmatic and community development opportunities in addition to peer support and mentoring.

DePauw offers multiple housing environments for first-year students, and each community has unique advantages. Each residence hall community provides programmatic and community development opportunities in addition to peer support and mentoring. The common spaces and building environments have gathering spaces that allow for community to form among our first-year students.

Bishop Roberts, Humbert, Jordan and Longden Halls are located in the South Quad. These residence halls are home to between 110-145 students each. Most rooms in these residence halls are double occupancy rooms, but room size can range from single occupancy to four-person occupancy rooms.

Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Residential Communities

Sophomores, juniors, and seniors reside in a variety of housing styles that allow each individual to tailor their campus experience and live within a community that allows for the integration of their experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. Housing options for sophomores, juniors, and seniors include Bloomington Street Hall, Lucy Rowland Hall, Mason Hall, Senior Hall, Rector Village, University-Owned Apartments and Houses, and fraternity and sorority chapter facilities. Students who are affiliated with a fraternity or sorority have the option to reside in their chapter facility beginning their sophomore year.

Various housing options aim to have students leave DePauw prepared to enter an increasingly complex and diverse world as a productive citizen contributing to their local community. Through the housing selection process for university-owned housing, sophomores, juniors, and seniors can opt into residing within an intentional community or general living as well as select their housing from the options available at their selection date and time. The housing selection process occurs in March each academic year.

Intentional Living Communities

Housing and Residence Life is excited to offer four different types of intentional communities within first-year housing and one type of intentional community within our sophomore, junior, and senior housing. These communities have additional programming throughout the academic year based on their intentionality.

Healthy Living Community (First-Years Only)

This community supports healthy life choices, and the students who choose to live in this community commit to a lifestyle that refrains from the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs within their residential environment. As a result of living in these communities, students live in an environment that is free from the secondary effects of these substances and feel supported in their individual choice to refrain for using. Additionally, these communities offer specific resources, programs and events that support healthy life choices, provide for quiet environments conducive to studying, create intentional opportunities for social and interpersonal connections, and give students the responsibility to help set the standards of the community and empower them to uphold those standards.

Rainbow Community (First-Year Community and Upperclassmen Community)

This community serves as a space to enable lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students and their advocates to connect and live in a respectful space. All students are welcome to live in the Rainbow Community with an understanding that the space serves as an affirming home for all expressions of gender and sexuality. Additionally, restrooms within these communities are gender inclusive. All residents and their guests will be expected to be respectful and sensitive to all identities within the LGBTQIA+ community. In collaboration with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Rainbow Community will offer specific resources, events, and create intentional opportunities for social and interpersonal connections.

Artists’ Salon Living Learning Community (First-Years Only)

The Artists’ Salon Living Learning Community offers a unique experience to those interested in the fine arts such as art, dance, design, film, music, theater, and writing and is open to all students who describe themselves as a creative. Innovative works of Art and new approaches to Art making are born when creatives are in close proximity. Built for majors and non-majors alike, the Artists' Salon LLC offers an environment of support and exploration for students’ pursuits within DePauw’s vibrant creative community.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Living Learning Community (First-Years Only)

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Living Learning Community offers first-year students from across majors the opportunity to live, learn, and participate in activities that have an entrepreneurship focus. Students will live alongside other first-year innovators with an emphasis on creating a campus culture and community among residents through educational programs that promote innovative and entrepreneurial ideas and ventures.

Fraternity and Sorority Life Housing

For many of our sophomores, juniors, and seniors at 69É«ÇéÊÓƵ, the fraternity and sorority living experience is a defining presence in their college life. Fraternity and sorority chapter facilities offer an atmosphere conducive to community building, diverse interaction and relationship development for their members.