Campus Life

Residential Life

     Residence hall living is an exciting and enriching part of the Bradford College experience. Living on campus provides daily opportunities to interact with others from a variety of backgrounds, values, goals, personalities, and lifestyles. About 80% of our students choose to live on campus in a variety of uniquely designed living options.
  

     Every residence hall offers co-educational or single-sex arrangements by floor, laundry facilities, vending machines, common kitchenette facilities, and common lounge/recreation areas. Every student room is furnished with a twin-size bed, a wardrobe, a desk, a bookcase, and a desk lamp. While services and furniture are similar from room-to-room, there is a distinct difference in character from one building to another:

Academy Hall

     Built in 1870, Academy Hall is a four-story, mid-Victorian building. The first floor houses several administrative offices and the College’s dining hall. The second, third, and fourth floors are residential in nature and accommodate 250 men and women. Each of the student rooms is different in style--most rooms accommodate two or three students while a few large rooms house four.

Tupelo East and West

     The Tupelos are twin residence halls overlooking Tupelo Pond. Built in the mid-1960s, these halls are named for the North American Tupelo tree. Each of the buildings house approximately 80 men and women. Tupelo rooms are doubles, divided internally by large wardrobe units.

Cluster Houses

     The Cluster Houses offer a small group living environment not available in the other residence options. Each cluster is a self-contained unit with a kitchenette, four bathrooms, six bedrooms shared by ten students. Built in the early-1970s, the Cluster Houses are located between the Tupelos and the athletic fields.

     In early summer new students complete a "housing request" form which indicates their preferences for accommodations on campus. Residence Life staff members try to abide by students’ requests as much as possible.
     Students may opt to live in an area with a particular theme or focus. Each year students have the opportunity to propose new "Special Interest Floors" to the Office of Residence Life. Listed below are a few choices:

Study Intensive Floor: Students choosing to live on the Study Intensive Floor agree to a higher standard of quiet and academic focus. The atmosphere on this floor is largely determined at meetings among floor members and hall staff. Such meetings focus on quiet hours, community responsibility, and programming with an emphasis on study groups, faculty involvement, tutoring, and academic skills.

Substance-Free Living Environment: This space is designed for students who wish to live in an environment free from alcohol and other chemical substances. Students create social activities that do not involve the use of substances and live with others who share a common philosophy. Living in this space requires a commitment by residents and their guests not to use substances in their living area. Roommates living elsewhere on campus may choose to sign an agreement for their room to be a substance-free space.

Students may also request to live with a new student, a returning Bradford student or a student from another country. Bradford enrolls students from thirty different countries so there are ample opportunities to live with students from other cultures. These international students specifically wish to live with individuals from the United States.
 

Residence Life Staff

     The members of the Residence Life staff develop and implement programs and policies designed to meet the needs of a diverse group of students.

Resident Advisors (RAs) Each floor/unit has a Resident Advisor who is responsible for working with residents to develop the floor community. The RAs are student leaders who are selected to coordinate activities, provide support, mediate conflicts, act as resource persons, and interpret college policy.

Resident Directors (RDs) RAs are supervised by full-time professional Resident Directors who live in the halls and are responsible for their day-to-day operation. The RDs also serve as a direct resource for students.

     Each of these staff members is available to assist students, implement programs, and join residents to create a thriving on-campus residential community.