Residence Life
Life on campus is an integral part of the Smith experience. Here, students don’t live in traditional dorms, but one of 41 unique, self-governing house communities. Ranging in size from 10 to over 100 students, Smith houses are home to students of all four class years, and introduce residents to people from various socioeconomic, racial, and cultural backgrounds. The Office of Residence Life is here to make Smith feel like your home away from home.
Houses, Not Dorms
Smith’s housing system is unique. Here, most students live on campus throughout their college career (though off-campus housing is available after your first year) in house communities, not standard dormitories. Students from all four class years reside in the houses, introducing you to people from a wide range of backgrounds. For many Smithies, their house becomes like their second family, with lifelong friendships often formed with the people who live just down the hall from you.
Help Yourself
Mission and Values
The mission of the Office of Residence Life is to provide housing for students that encourages community and promotes inclusion.
Community Through Connections
Creating communities by fostering connections encourages students to reflect, explore and engage with the self and others. This should serve to develop strong and meaningful relationships in and outside the houses through common interests, shared identities and learning experiences.
Wellness
Wellness is a lifelong journey, valuing everything we are as living beings; in the full complexity of our positive and negative experiences. We are whole people moving through the world as the world moves around us; as such, these definitions must grow and change along with us. The Office of Residence Life provides opportunities for students to explore and grow in their wellness journey.
Learning
Learning is a continuous, active process of discovery that engages people in intentional inquiry and problem solving while seeking to understand in a collaborative context.
Equity and Inclusion
We are all multifaceted individuals with various and intersecting social identities. Healthy communities celebrate and honor differences and strive to be just and inclusive. Authentic inclusion requires us to challenge the systems of power and domination that keep us apart. We must learn to work across our differences to envision and create a better way of being in community together.
Adapted from Developing a Liberatory Consciousness by Dr. Barbara J. Love.
No Place Like Home
Contact Office of Residence Life
Clark Hall
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
Phone: 413-585-4940 Email: reslife@smith.edu
Facebook TwitterOffice Hours
Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.