Mission & Values
The mission of the Office of Residence Life is to provide housing for students that encourages community and promotes inclusion.
Core Values
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.
The Compass | Smith College
Residence Education Model
The Compass, Smith College’s residence education model, guides the learning that happens for residential students within Smith College houses. A model deeply based in the institutional mission, the Compass strives to help students achieve learning goals with measurable outcomes.