Sustains learning community is housed on the third floor of Scott House. Credit: Amal Saeed | Photo Editor

Ohio State offers three programs that give students the chance to live with like-minded people, but each are different in both the level of involvement required and housing.   

The University Honors Program aims to create an enhanced academic experience that develops both personal and scholarly curiosity, while the University Scholars Program’s goal is to build a community among people with shared passions through the housing experience, according to the Honors and Scholars website. A Learning Community is less specific, in that it is made up of students who have common major, career or personal interests, according to the University’s housing website.

The special-interest groups share not only an academic focus, but a social and residential one, as most of these groups’ members live together during at least their first year on campus, according to the university’s website. 

Students who are members of Honors, Scholars and Learning Communities programs are required to live in specific residence halls, unless the student is in both a Learning Community and Honors. In that case, the student would be placed with the Learning Community, according to the University Housing and Honors and Scholars websites. Honors students can rank preference among Bradley Hall, Taylor Tower and Lincoln Tower. 

Housing these groups has the intention of creating a unique environment where students are more naturally connected to others, according to the Honors and Scholars website.

Some students — such as Becky Maly, a first-year in exploration — have questioned the rationale behind assigning certain groups to certain locations. Maly is in the Honors program and currently lives in Lincoln Tower, which was completed in 1967 and consists mostly of four-suite clusters that each house four students who share a bathroom and common room.

Maly said that while she enjoys the opportunity to live in a 16-person suite and grow closer with people quickly, the older, suite-style structure can be frustrating compared with more modern housing.

“I just don’t think it makes very much sense, personally. If we’re supposed to be the tippity-top of the university’s students, why do we get the worst dorms?” Maly said. 

According to the Honors and Scholars website, Scholars programs have a wider range of dorms, 13 for the 2018-19 school year, and Maly said it can seem like a less rigorous program receives better housing.  

Toni Greenslade-Smith, director of housing administration, said in an email that housing for scholars accounts for location.

”The scholars programs themselves partner with [University Housing] to determine their placement on campus. Primary consideration for them is proximity to the respective academic programs,” Greenslade-Smith said.

The Scholars program comprises a larger volume of students and a lower average ACT score, according to a 2015 Ohio State Honors and Scholars report. 

“There should be more Honors resources if we’re gonna live here, and it’s specifically geared toward Honors students,” Maly said.

Greenslade-Smith said honors students are afforded the same opportunities as others s relative to choice of program. 

She said she hasn’t encountered frustration among Honors students regarding their housing. 

“In the distant past, we heard from non-honors students regarding the priority assignments received by honors students. With the addition of scholars programs and learning communities to meet student interests, we have not had concerns raised in a number of years,” Greenslade-Smith said. 

Greenslade-Smith said where Honors students live does not have any connection to providing an equal experience to that of non-Honors students. She said there is no strategy for assigning students in certain programs and groups to specific housing, including Honors. 

“The Honors Learning Community was the first learning community on campus and, at the time, was assigned to Taylor Tower, which was considered by many to be the best residence hall. Over time, as Honors numbers increased, the Honors halls included Bradley and Lincoln. As we do assignments, Bradley is in the greatest demand due to its proximity to Kuhn Honors House,” Greenslade-Smith said. 

Bradley, constructed in 1954, is the oldest of the three buildings and is the only Honors dorm without air conditioning, according to both Ohio State’s housing and library websites.

Learning Communities represent another facet of deliberate housing assignments. 

“A Learning Community is a group of students who live together on a residence hall floor with common major, career and/or personal interests. Through partnerships with a variety of academic departments, faculty and staff, students have exclusive access to activities that tie directly into their academic success at Ohio State,” according to the University Housing website.

Shreya Kodi, a member of the Kellogg-Moser Food Security and Sustainability Learning Community and first-year in finance, said the combined experience of academics and lifestyle has met her expectations. 

“I do take it as a privilege. Being part of a Learning Community, I do live in a nicer dorm,” Kodi said. 

Her Learning Community lives on the third floor of Houston House — which was renovated in 2016, according to previous Lantern reporting — and consists mainly of two-person rooms, according to University Housing’s website. 

Kodi said having Learning Community membership requires work comparable to that of an additional class, including weekly seminars and working on group projects throughout the year. 

“I do think where people live on campus can impact how people perform in a classroom setting,” Kodi said.

She said she would not change anything about where she lives. 

Greenslade-Smith said housing decisions are not affected by the difficulty of the associated program. 

“Many of the placements have existed for a number of years, and as new programs are offered, current communities are grandfathered into their current placements. New placements are made relative to what learning communities and/or scholars programs are already in a building,” Greenslade-Smith said.