University of Iowa dropping ‘living learning community’ requirement

IOWA CITY - After becoming in 2013 the first institution of its kind to require all students who live on campus to join a 'Living Learning Community,” the University of Iowa is reversing the mandate - citing unintended challenges.

Starting next fall, residence hall students no longer will be required to live in what are commonly referred to as LLCs, which house coeds in clusters based on common interest, identity, or academic major - depending on student preference.

Instead, the university will debut a new residential program that offers opt-in LLCs but pares down the number of communities from 28 to 18. A 'more traditional hall experience” will become available to the thousands wanting to live in the UI's 14 halls - more than 6,420 are doing so this fall.

The program, additionally, will provide new ways to ease the transition to college for first-year students - about 97 percent of whom choose to live on campus, according to Virginia Ibrahim-Olin, University Housing and Dining assistant director for contracts and assignments.

'It is time to take a step back from the all-LLC model and see how we can better serve our students,” Ibrahim-Olin said in a statement. 'We want to offer students the best experience we can.”

The university embarked on its LLC mandate four years ago, becoming the first in the Big Ten and of its kind nationally to require students apply for housing by choosing from what was then 32 communities - including ones for students interested in cooking, exercising, traveling, or pursuing business degrees, for example.

The requirement was based on research showing students who feel connected and part of a community are more likely to stay in school, earn better grades, and report an overall better collegiate experience.

Housing applicants had to select and rank their top five preferred LLCs, which were assigned within the universities residence halls.

But, over the years, the university encountered 'unintended challenges associated with the universal LLC model.” Specifically, some students weren't committed to the LLC in which they lived - perhaps because they were more interested in getting the residence hall of their choice, according to Von Stange, assistant vice president for student life and University Housing and Dining director.

'Some students had the mind-set that living in a particular building was more important than living in a LLC,” Stange wrote in an email to The Gazette, noting that 'diluted the experience for those in the LLC who were committed to that experience.”

Also hindering intended benefits of the LLC model was the challenge of getting all community members into a common course. That had been the hope, according to Stange.

'However, some LLCs were too large to make that feasible,” he said. 'Other interest-based LLCs didn't have a relevant course to tie to it. Students in the LLCs with courses attached to them sometimes dropped the course, thereby diluting the experience for others.”

The university came to its conclusions based on findings from a campuswide committee charged with assessing intended and unintended impacts of LLCs, according to Stange. And although it highlighted challenges, the group did find proven benefits - including strong academic performance and higher retention and engagement.

Thus students who are a good fit for the model will have the pared-down list of options to choose from - a list that's heavier in academic- and major-related themes, like those for business, journalism, or engineering majors, and lighter in hobby-related options. Gone from the list, for example, are some like 'Green Adventures” for students interested in the outdoors, 'Craftastic” for students who like to explore hands-on creativity, or 'Between Takes” for students with a passion for movies.

Options still include communities tied to identity, like 'Young Gifted and Black;” 'All In,” centered on LGBTQ culture; and 'Be-WISE” for women in science and engineering.

With the housing application period for next fall about to open - on Oct. 5 - returning students will get first crack at housing preferences, with their selection set for February. Students requesting an LLC or honors housing will get to choose in May. All other new students will choose in June.

'We will have enough space in the residence halls for all first-year, transfer, and returning students who wish to live/return to campus,” Stange said.

Both Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa offer students a type of community living experience in the residence halls - although neither institution requires it.

Iowa State launched its learning community program in 1995 and today offers 90 community options, 20 of which have a residential component, according to Jennifer Leptien, interim director for ISU's learning communities. Of the school's first-year class, 73 percent are participating in one of the clusters - although not all are in residential programs.

At UNI, all students are housed in communities based on academic classification - like first-year students, second-year students, transfers, or upper division, for example. They also can request housing by major, like biology or engineering, or interest, like leadership.

Because the clusters are not required, students can request to live elsewhere, and those requests are considered on a case-by-case basis, according to UNI spokesman Scott Ketelsen.

l Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com