Residential Life at Sarah Lawrence is dedicated to building and fostering community, providing resources, managing housing related concerns, and keeping college residences safe and well supported. We take a residential education approach to our work, focusing on educating students on how to live safely and well in a shared community of which they are all equally part. Through this, we teach and reinforce essential life skills like agency and accountability as well as help prepare students to live, thrive, and drive change in a rapidly evolving world.
The main goals of residential education seek to teach people how to live well and to enhance their academic experience by providing an enriching residential environment that leads to academic and personal growth. A residential education curriculum is a framework used by colleges and universities to create learning opportunities and programs for students outside of the classroom. It provides opportunities for students to learn valuable skills for their personal and professional lives. Our curriculum will be crafted to address various aspects of well-being, connect residents to campus and community partners, assist residents with building their confidence and competence in various skill sets, and help them navigate living independently and interdependently.
There are many ways we plan to implement our residential education curriculum. Out of our office, we are looking to build a series of passive and active programming that exhibit our themes of wellness and provide educational opportunities to residential communities. We also abide by a conduct process that focuses on the educational aspect of handbook violations as opposed to punitive approaches. Our office also provides opportunities to our RAs for their own growth and development professionally. Through their dedication to the community, we also empower our RAs to utilize our principles of wellness and skill development to provide engaging peer to peer programming.