Barnard Hall to join Chadbourne Residential College

Barnard Hall, a residence hall in continuous operation since its doors opened in 1913, will join Chadbourne Hall next door as part of the Chadbourne Residential College.

CRC is a cooperative venture between University Housing and the College of Letters and Science, the university’s liberal arts and sciences academic unit. Through collaborative events and projects between CRC residents and faculty and staff, CRC aims to incorporate learning opportunities into every facet of undergraduate life.

Currently a women’s residence hall, Barnard will open to men in fall 2001, leaving Elizabeth Waters Hall as the university’s only single-sex residence.

“The time seemed right to renew discussions about adding Barnard to the CRC,” says Peter Quimby, Letters and Science assistant dean with responsibility for CRC. He says that since Chadbourne opened as CRC in 1996, Barnard residents have been able to take part in CRC activities and programs on an ad hoc basis. The $300 per year fee that CRC residents currently pay to cover the cost of activities and related expenses will be assessed to all Barnard residents as well next fall.

“Adding Barnard to the CRC seemed a natural outgrowth,” says Robert Fessenden, associate director of University Housing. “Students have been asking that Barnard be included in the CRC right from the beginning.”

Fessenden says the university currently has three residential learning communities: In addition to CRC, they are the Bradley Learning Community for freshmen and the Global Village in Merit House. He says residential learning communities are a growing trend, both at UW–Madison and nationwide. “I think that the very experience of living in any residence hall promotes education. It opens students up to the way other people think, believe and behave,” Fessenden says.

Despite its new status — and the presence of men — much of the Barnard Hall’s ambiance will remain, Quimby says. “Barnard still will be primarily for sophomores, juniors and seniors,” since most of the rooms are singles, he says. “And the hall will still be called Barnard — the CRC will be made up of Chadbourne and Barnard Halls.”

Currently, CRC houses about 670 students. Barnard has rooms for about 140.

Students may apply to any of the UW–Madison residential learning communities through University Housing, although Quimby says final details about assignments in the expanded CRC still must be worked out. For more information, contact him at (608) 265-5198; phquimby@lssaa.wisc.edu.