Check out recent developments for Emory Campus Life offices, programs, and initiatives.

A Committee to assist Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands was formed by Dean Nair in November to determine how Campus Life can further assist our fellow citizens in the islands and Emory students from those communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. David Clark and Suzanne Onorato lead the committee, which has already undertaken several important actions. Teams of ECL staff are determining how to promote awareness of the need, raise additional funds, and ensure that donations collected by Emory organizations are delivered via legitimate Atlanta-based agencies. The committee is also exploring ways – including through housing, dining, clothing, and transition – that Campus Life can support the university’s commitment to enroll up to 32 students from Puerto Rico in spring 2018.

Community Building and Social Change (CBSC) Fellows, a program of ECL’s Civic and Community Engagement (CCE) unit, partnered with the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE) to pilot a University Learning Community (ULC). Focused on the Buford Highway Corridor, the initiative is organized around an art and social transformation theme. The 26 participants include Emory students, faculty, staff, and community partners learning together how to create excellent community-campus partnerships. Seven mutually agreed-upon projects were created, ranging from using photography for exploring healthy relationships to teaching improv theater exercises as part of test preparation. Launched in spring 2017, the initiative’s impact continues to grow, with expanded relationships and projects planned Emory and the community.

The Faculty in Residence (FIR) program, sponsored by ECL’s Office of Residence Life, increases meaningful interactions between students and faculty members (FIRs) living in residence halls as part of the program. Residence Life staff work closely with FIRs to offer an intentional residential education experience for Emory students and strengthen connections between students’ curricular and co-curricular activities. View a three-minute video of this year’s FIRs discussing the program. Click here to visit the FIR website.

Open Expression Observers Program, a group of faculty and staff volunteers from various Emory units, is coordinated by Emory Campus Life. The trained volunteers attend various campus events to help inform bystanders, participants, protestors, and/or counterprotesters of their rights in accordance with the university’s Respect for Open Expression Policy 8.14. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently assigned Emory a “green light” status for its commitment to free speech and open expression on campus. Emory is one of only 37 universities nationwide and the only one in Georgia to enjoy that status. Read more in an opinion by Emory Professor Sasha Volokh.

Campus Life Center is literally taking shape before our eyes as foundation is poured and steel infrastructure erected. For more information, including project updates and/or to subscribe to the CLC Newsletter, visit: www.campuslifecenter.com