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Taking Care of Ourselves & Each Other

Health & Well-Being

Delta Delta Delta at a game. Credit: Unknown

Special Interest: Housed Fraternity & Sorority Life (UTH-SI: FSL) Criteria

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This criteria is the backbone for all Housed Fraternity and Sorority Life and also informs our application questions.

2023-24 Neighborhood Decorative Accent Line

Criteria

  • Alignment with ResX Principles - Every UTH should align with the four ResX Core Principles; namely, i) Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; ii) Health & Well-being; iii) Community & Belonging; and iv) Intellectual & Personal Growth. To this end, throughout the application, each prospective UTH must demonstrate evidence that the House will be focusing on these four principles.
  • Leadership Team 
    • Department: Fraternity and Sorority Life 
    • Team: FSL Advisor, Alumni Advisory and Organizational Leadership 
  • Theme Interest and Demand - To have the greatest chance of success, the applicants must show evidence of student interest in the proposed house (e.g., through a student survey results or a call for interest) and demonstrate how the house will meet real needs/desires/interests of undergraduates on campus. The theme must show sufficient interest to fill a residence in its entirety.
  • Integrated Learning & Communal Flourishing - As ResX advocated, UTHs must be “relevant and in line with the University’s goals for undergraduate education and the theme implementation should be robust.” The houses should be focused on fostering the intellectual and social life of the house to actively engage with the university’s learning priorities. This will be shown through plans that show all of the following:
    • Different ways for residents to show and model a shared commitment to the community. A focus on credible and stimulating opportunities for all kinds of engagement centered on the theme/dorm lifestyle that encourage reflection and positive action on the part of all residents; low-key community gatherings, field trips, or a sequence of informal workshops, or other kinds of get-togethers put on in the house each quarter and in which all can participate. 
    • Cumulative learning experiences that show how the house’s lifestyle enhances the spirit of the collective, the personal development of individuals, the realization of the values and goals, and the flourishing of the community throughout the year. 
    • FSL Chapters will need to articulate how they hope to contribute to the well-being of their neighborhood by making meaningful connections and demonstrating good citizenship, as well as promoting the principles of their community in their neighborhood.
  • Institutional Commitment and Clear Resource Stream - To be successful, leadership teams must have an operations and logistics plan that shows an understanding of the resources required to run the theme and the annual deployment of those resources. Departments, divisions, and other organizations that are involved must articulate their level of commitment and resource.
  • Measures of success - To ensure that themed residences are designed and implemented to be a positive experience for all participants (as anticipated by the ResX principles), leadership teams must indicate how they will demonstrate success annually for review and audit. CoRL’s review will lead by determining how well the declared objectives correlate with evidence-based outcomes.
Opuntia species like this prickly pear are the most cold-tolerant of the lowland cacti, extending into western and southern Canada. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)