Residential College, UNCG's grand experiment, is still thriving after ...

Residential
College,
UNCG’s
grand
experiment,
is
still
thriving
after
37 years
B y J i l l Y e s k o ,
s t a f f w r i t e r
p h o t o s b y D a v i d W i l s o n ,
s t a f f p h o t o g r a p h e r
22 uncg magazine ° Spring 2007
Spring 2007 ° uncg magazine 23
Spring 2007 ° uncg magazine 23

T h e o p e n i n g n o t e s o f J i m m y B u f f e t t ’ s
laid-back anthem “Margaritaville” play in the background as
Meredith Miller strolls through the third-floor hallway of Mary
Foust Hall. On the way to her room, she passes doorway after
doorway festooned with colorful art projects, endless photographs
of friends and pets, well-used message boards. A pirate
flag and ceramic duck complete the ornamentation. Two students
lounge on their bellies typing away on their laptops. A
bicycle frame waiting to be painted sits by a door surrounded
by scraps of sandpaper. Another student proudly shows off his
private office, a computer and tidy bookshelf inside a closet.
It’s as if YouTube and MySpace have come to life.
Welcome to Mary Foust, home of Residential College, UNCG’s
oldest and arguably most eclectic learning community. Established in
1970 as the brainchild of idealistic philosophy professor Warren Ashby,
Residential College (or RC as everyone calls it) quickly became one of
the most iconic elements in UNCG’s commitment to creating an environment
where students and faculty can live and learn in a funky, collegial
setting.
As one of the first residential colleges to be established in the United
States, RC pioneered learning environments where classes are linked to
an interdisciplinary theme and where students and faculty learn from
each other in intimate settings. What started as Ashby’s radical notion of a
“college within a college” has turned into a full-scale academic movement
— with UNCG leading the way.
The vibe for the 120 students at Residential College is earthycrunchy
meets intellectually curious. Students at RC are “into” everything
from raising awareness about famine in the Darfur region of
Africa to exploring how detective fiction serves as a metaphor for issues
in modern-day society. “As soon as you walk into Mary Foust Hall you
know you are in a place that has character,” says Meredith, a junior
majoring in history. “And characters are definitely honored and welcomed
here!”
RC’s charm comes from its almost mandated informality. Camaraderie
between faculty and students comes easily, especially when classes are
held on the worn couches and threadbare easy chairs of Ashby parlor.
Some classes are held in the basement’s game room or on the outside
lawn.
“Faculty members don’t get rooms with rows of desks,” declares
Dr. Fran Arndt, RC’s plainspoken “godmother” who has taught there
for more than three decades. Sitting in her office under a banner reading
”Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History,” Arndt observes that from
day one, RC students are “already thinking outside of the box.”
Class act
On a late autumn day, 20 students (RC mandates that classes are capped at
24 students) listen as Christine Flood, a lecturer in the history department,
discusses historical context during her “Show Me the Money” seminar
exploring populism and prosperity in America in the 20th century. While
1970
As the university has grown in size there has
been the increasing feeling on the part of students
that they have become an unidentifiable
part of an impersonal, bureaucratic machine.
For the student, the IBM card has become the
omni-present symbol of this feeling.
— From “Proposal to Establish a Living/Learning
Unit” for what was to become Residential College
The proposal was anything but modest. To
create an “inner college” where freshman and
sophomore women and men would share a
core curriculum, attend class together and
even call their professors by their first names
— to their faces — all the while living under
one roof.
The year was 1970, and the radical experiment
was called simply Residential College. RC grew
out of the tumultuous 1960s, a time of upheaval
on campuses across the United States. The
Vietnam War was still raging, and students
from coast to coast were clamoring for greater
“relevancy” from their college experiences.
Change was in the air: The time was right for
something new and different to emerge.
RC was the brainchild D r . W a r r e n A s h b y ,
an idealistic philosophy professor who championed
the cause of what was to become a mainstay
on campus. In 1970, residential colleges
existed in England, but American residential colleges
were few and far between outside of Ivy
Leagues schools such as Yale and Harvard.
Far left, Mary Foust Hall, circa 1970
24 uncg magazine ° Spring 2007 Spring 2007 ° uncg magazine 25

Live
and
Learn
some students scribble notes, most listen; some even knit. No one sends
text messages. No one looks bored.
Ambling up to a lectern in stocking feet, students give end-of-semester
reports on topics such as the effects of rapid industrialization during the
Gilded Age or the role of socialist and political leader Eugene V. Debs.
Flood listens from the sidelines as students easily banter back and forth
questioning and debating what they’ve just heard.
“Students feel free to speak out in class and engage,” Flood says. “They
have a comfort level with each other.” While it may all look easy, Flood,
who also teaches American history classes for non-RC students, admits
that “interdisciplinary is hard to do,” in part because not all faculty members
are comfortable team teaching a multidisciplinary curriculum.
Still, for those who are game, teaching at RC is a rewarding experience.
“It’s like a little family,” says Dr. Jay Lennartson, assistant professor of
geography who teaches earth science and sustainability classes in RC.
“The students are much more
passionate about learning and
they have a great respect for
each other. As a teacher, I feel
a lot of love and appreciation.”
Where everybody knows your name
To be admitted, you have to be a little bit different, but in a good way. As
part of the application, potential students have sent ballet slipper ribbons,
forks bent into yoga postures, poems, paintings and links to personal web
sites. “You have to go that extra mile to get into RC,” says Meredith Miller.
Those who apply must not only be committed to academics, but also to
participating in the running of Residential College. To that end, students
have an unprecedented voice, even helping to say yay or nay to who will
be admitted.
In addition to a 22-person council that oversees academic policy, students
can join a multitude of committees and activities that include a parlor
theatre, gardening (one student’s parents donated a composter to use
in the student-run garden), literary magazine, intramurals and numerous
service-learning projects.
Over the years, RCers have held community Thanksgiving dinners,
inviting members of the Mary Foust housekeeping staff as well as others
connected to RC. Their annual haunted house raises money for
charity and allows students’ creative impulses to run wild. Last year’s
theme was Dante’s Inferno. Other themes have included psychiatric
hospitals and a haunted circus. A green, chest-high paper-mâché mask
dubbed “Josephine,” a remnant of a former haunted house’s décor, gets
trotted out for special occasions. Over the years, Mary Foust has seen
weddings, a baptism, memorial services and birthday parties for the
children of the residential counselors, along with innumerable spontaneous
celebrations.
And then there’s Valle Crucis, a retreat center outside of Boone in western
North Carolina where students, alumni, faculty and staff partake in a
bi-annual pilgrimage to get away from it all. The time away includes mandatory
guitar playing, poetry readings, nature walks and time-honored
games such as sardines, a kind of hide-and-seek in reverse where students
hide in a group.
Michael Riley, assistant professor of English,
teaches class in the parlor in 1971.
Many students believe that their
university experience would be
more rewarding if they simply
knew better the people — students
as well as teachers — with
whom they worked.
— From “Proposal to Establish a
Living/Learning Unit”
What was new for the first students
— and what is still unique
today — is RC’s fierce dedication
to building bridges between faculty
and students. RC’s freshmen
and sophomores all follow a core
curriculum exclusive to RC team
taught by faculty from a variety of
disciplines. Classes, which are
held in intimate seminars, are
clustered around a broad-based
theme that keeps students learning
together for four semesters.
Last year’s core curriculum was
“The American Experience 1900-
2000” — a theme that could have
proven lethally boring were it not
for courses with attention-grabbing
titles such as or “Hollywood
and History: Truth, Lies and
Videotape” or “A Woman’s Work
Is Never Done” and dedicated
faculty. “The experience here is
on class work that demands
thought,” Dr. Fran Arndt says.
“RC students are already thinking
outside of the box.”
26 uncg magazine ° Spring 2007 Spring 2007 ° uncg magazine 27

Live
and
Learn
“Faculty have so many pressures on them now. It’s hard for them to
socialize with students,” says Jeanne Aaroe ’81, ’95, ’00, ’05 MLS, RC’s
assistant director. And it‘s the bonding that faculty and students say is
key to RC’s enduring appeal. “Students may not remember all that they
learn in classes,” Arndt says. “But they certainly remember the friendships
they’ve made.”
Because the core curriculum accounts for about half of their schedules,
students must leave the Mary Foust womb to take additional
classes or to shop, go to the dining hall and reconnect with the world
outside. Still, with a kitchen, computer lab, game room and plethora of
in-house activities, many say they are reluctant to look for stimulation
outside the walls of Mary Foust. “You only really have to go outside to
go to the library and to buy food,” says Meredith. “Socially, it’s very
easy to hang out. There are 120 people here, and I’ve talked to all of
them at least once.”
While some may wonder if RC breeds a culture of insularity (students
had T-shirts made up reading “Mary Foust: Where Everybody
Knows Your Name and All Your Business”), students say that keeping
it all in the family is exactly what they were after when they enrolled
at RC.
“I really like the culture here,” says sophomore Zach Shuford, an
avid rock climber who transferred to RC after his freshman year. “It’s all
part of living together. When we walk out of class we can continue discussions
in our rooms. I love this place.”
“Each person’s RC experience is different,” adds Anders Selhorst,
’00, ’04 MLIS, who likens his years there to those of Harry Potter at
Hogwarts. “We don’t have a Dumbledore,” says Anders, “[but] you do
have some interesting characters.” g
Going Strong
Strong and Grogan Colleges and
the Residential College legacy
Residential College grew out of the passion and
idealism of the 1960s. Interdisciplinary education —
the notion that the arts, sciences and humanities
should be integrated — was on the cutting edge of
college curricula. This notion was brought to fruition
at UNCG with the opening of RC.
Its success has spawned two other residential
communities, Cornelia Strong College and Ione
Grogan College. Like Residential College, they
share the mission of bringing learning to students in
an intimate environment. Founded in 1994, Strong
College, named for Cornelia Strong, who taught
mathematics and astronomy from 1905 to 1948,
allows students to live in community in South
Spencer Hall. Strong students take a full complement
of courses throughout the university.
Strong College consists of resident students
called “junior fellows,” faculty “senior fellows” and a
flexible number of non-resident upperclassmen and
alumni. Weekly teas and lunches with faculty are
signature Strong College activities along with an
annual regatta on Buffalo Creek and a croquet tournament.
In the words of the Strong College web
site: “We race miniature boats in an effort to, well,
we’re not sure why we do it, but it sure is fun!”
Strong’s weekly coffee bar is named after the college’s
mascot — a stuffed lemur called Tim.
Founded in 1997 and named for alumna Ione
Grogan ’13, Grogan College is the youngest of the
three residential colleges. Open only to freshmen,
the Grogan experience is a one-year program based
in Grogan Residence Hall. The college is divided
into learning communities of 10-25 students organized
around specific topics or areas of interest.
Students in each learning community take at least
one common class together.
“The primary purpose of all learning communities
is for students to have a close relationship with
faculty and for faculty to serve as mentors to students,”
says Dr. Kathleen Rountree, associate provost
for undergraduate education. “The constant is
that students do better when they are engaged in
the university community.”
The more things change,
the more they stay the same
The sound of stringed instruments has
been a part of RC life since its beginning.
In the left photo, Meredith Miller (in pink)
picks out a tune on the banjo while her
hallmates knit, chat and otherwise relax.
Having a small, intimate community was
one of the original goals of RC. The proposal
to establish the college, states: “It
is our feeling that some of the shock that
even the very brightest students experience
when they come to college as freshmen
may be attenuated by becoming part
of a smaller unit.” Keeping things close to
home makes it easy for students to get
involved — both with the life of RC and
with each other. Living together has its
advantages. “As soon as you walk into
Mary Foust Hall you know you are in a
place that has character,” says Meredith.
“And characters are definitely honored
and welcomed here!”
1971
28 uncg magazine ° Spring 2007 Spring 2007 ° uncg magazine 29