Gender inclusive housing (GIH) is widely viewed as a best practice to include trans* students within collegiate residence halls. Because of this insistence that GIH is an inclusive strategy, GIH has become a national trend across universities. Yet, in spite of GIH's increasing popularity, there is a dearth in the literature on the effectiveness of…

During the fall of 1947, the first building for the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) was constructed, which consisted of a quonset hut retrofitted as a laboratory. Scientists arrived in Barrow (Utqiagvik), Alaska, the northernmost village in the United States, not long after. The remainder of NARL was built two miles outside the village…

Gender-neutral housing has recently become an option at colleges and universities across the U.S. Chief housing officers at Association of College and University Housing Officers-International member institutions were surveyed online about the status of gender-neutral housing at their respective campuses, using an instrument adapted by the…

Strengths-based approaches are expanding in higher education; however, little is known about the impacts of these approaches in housing and residence life settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between first-year students' strengths interactions in housing and their engagement and retention. The results suggest that…

Recent sexual assault scandals have brought public attention to the fact that there is a need for colleges to aggressively address the issues surrounding sexual assaults on their campuses. Studies indicate that one in four women are being sexually assaulted each year, but few women report this. Women suffer major psychological issues when…

This paper investigates whether demand-side market pressure explains colleges' decisions to provide consumption amenities to their students. We estimate a discrete choice model of college demand using micro data from the high school classes of 1992 and 2004, matched to extensive information on all four year colleges in the U.S. We find that most…

Students enter college with preconceived ideas about what their experience of college life will be like. Since the first Hollywood film about college, movies have contributed to society's perceptions of what it means to be a college student. Contrary to the images promoted by higher education marketing departments, Hollywood's portrayals…

This study explored the effects of participation in a residential college living/learning program as well as a themed-floor living/learning program at New York University on students' cumulative GPAs at graduation and likelihood of earning a degree from the institution. The two residential learning program models studied varied in terms of size,…

Like most schools, College of William and Mary is not shy about touting its amenities. The Webpage that advertises the college's housing and dining options begins with, "Wireless and Starbucks? Thomas Jefferson never had it this good." Advertising of this sort is a double-edged public-relations sword. Colleges and universities clearly want to…

What's wrong with the sustainability movement, the author contends, is the uncritical homogenization of humanity. Sustainability advocates inevitably seek to homogenize people's deepest values, because their goal is to save Earth from ecological, economic, and social disaster. Everyone must participate--everyone must share the same key values and…

This qualitative study employed a constructivist, case study approach to explore how faculty made meaning of their experiences in a newly developed residential college at a large, land-grant research university in the Midwest. Findings revealed that faculty focused on determining how to prioritize the numerous opportunities for involvement while…

In this paper we argue that living in university accommodation is a possible means of improving the security of international students. Our argument is supported by a qualitative case study of a single Hall of Residence on Monash University's Clayton campus. Data were collected primarily from interviews with three groups of participants--six…

The "Talking Stick" is published bimonthly, six times a year in January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/December by the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International. Each issue is divided into three sections, namely: Features, Columns, and Departments. These sections…

For education administrators, campus fires are not only a distressing loss, but also a stark reminder that a campus faces risks that require special vigilance. In many ways, campuses resemble small communities, with areas for living, working and relaxing. A residence hall fire may raise the specter of careless youth, often with the complication of…

More than 1,700 students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related causes, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). These students succumb to alcohol poisoning, cardiac arrest, or injuries from falls off dorm room balconies or other heights on campus. The problem of binge drinking, defined…