Free Association for everyone but DKE
Colgate's Resolution on Off-Campus Living
Resolutions by the Board of Trustees on Housing and Students' Rights of Association
News Article: Colgate Tries Variety of Ploys to Thwart 'Helicopter Parents'
Resolutions by
the Board of Trustees
on Housing and Students' Rights of Association
Resolution by the Board of Trustees on Students' Rights of Association
BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees approves the following policy regarding unrecognized organizations, and directs that the Colgate Student Handbook and other relevant university publications be modified as necessary to reflect this policy.
No Colgate student may rush, pledge, join, recruit for, perpetuate, or otherwise engage in activities as an actual or prospective student of an undergraduate fraternal or similar selective membership organization no recognized by the university. Anyone engaging in such activities, either as an actual or prospective member, will be subject to penalties that may include suspension or expulsion.
January 2005
Resolution by the Board of Trustees on Housing
BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Trustees approves the following policy regarding off-campus living, and directs that the Colgate Student Handbook and other relevant University publications be modified as necessary to reflect this policy.
Consistent with Colgate’s four-year approach to residential education, the University allows a small number of seniors to live off-campus in apartments and other private housing units. The option to live independently off-campus is intended to provide students with the opportunity to develop the skills needed to manage a household and live as part of a broader community, and to accept the responsibilities attendant to this privilege. The experience that students gather through negotiating a lease, paying rent, managing routine expenses, maintaining a kitchen, and living among neighbors of varied ages and backgrounds can be invaluable in preparing them for life after college.
For a variety of reasons, living off-campus is not the right choice for all students. For many, the opportunity to live in Broad Street houses or to develop on-campus communities in Colgate owned apartments or townhouses better meets their interests. Moreover, Colgate is acutely aware of the impact that off-campus students can have on the local residential community. As such, Colgate normally limits the number of students allowed to live off-campus to 250 members of the senior class.
The following rules govern off-campus living for enrolled undergraduate students at Colgate University:
- Off-Campus Lottery – Students who wish to live off-campus must participate in the off-campus lottery in the fall prior to their senior year. Permission to live off-campus is a privilege and not a right afforded to all students. The Office of Residential Education may, in its discretion, deny or revoke permission to live off-campus to individual students who have violated the Colgate Code of Student Conduct, particularly when the violations call into question their ability to live in the local community without disrupting their neighbors.
- Neighbor to Neighbor Program – All off-campus students must participate in the Neighbor to neighbor program administered by the Office of Residential Education. At least one member of each group of students living in the same off-campus housing unit must attend the Neighbor to Neighbor workshop in the spring prior to the senior year. These workshops provide students with important information about living in the Hamilton community, resources available to them if they encounter difficulties, and expectations for student conduct while living in the village. Permission to live off-campus may be revoked if students fail to meet this requirement.
- Adherence to Code of Student Conduct – The Colgate University Code of Student Conduct applies to student behavior both on- and off-campus. The opportunity to live off-campus is a privilege and not a right afforded to all students. The University is sensitive to the importance of maintaining quality of life standards for ourj neighbors in the Hamilton community. As such, students living off-campus whose conduct adversely impacts the lives of others living in the Hamilton community may, in addition to facing disciplinary action from the University, have their permission to live off-campus revoked. Financial penalties incurred by breaking a lease will not be considered in determining whether to revoke a student’s permission to live off-campus.
- No Congregate Living Off-Campus – Given the history of problems associated with students residing in congregate living facilities not owned and managed by the University, the New Vision for Residential Education adopted by the Colgate University Board of Trustees on May 2003 called for university supervision, oversight of and ownership of fraternity and sorority congregate living facilities. Just as students are not permitted to reside in fraternity of sorority houses not owned by the university, students granted permission to live off-campus are not permitted to reside in off-campus congregate living facilities.
This policy also recognizes that large groups living together in private housing units can have an adverse impact on neighbors and the broader Hamilton community, and are inconsistent with the goals of promoting individual self-sufficiency and experience of independent living for those students granted the privilege of living off-campus during their senior year.
For these and other reasons, the privilege of living off-campus is restricted to individuals and groups of up to eight students and congregate living in larger groups is not permitted.
Colgate defines congregate living as any group of eight of more students living in one residential location in which they share facilities such as kitchens, common/social spaces, and bathrooms (i.e. does not include multi-unit apartment buildings or houses with discrete facilities like those listed above). The Office of Residential Education will determine whether a location constitutes a congregate living facility for purposes of this policy in any given case.
January 2005