Scholarship hall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scholarship Halls
Shown Battenfeld Scholarship Hall
Founded 1926-Watkins Scholarship Hall (First Hall)
What Student Housing Residences
Where University of Kansas

A Scholarship Hall is an on-campus communal living environment at the University of Kansas for college students that is provided in lieu of typical dormitory or apartment living. Residents live at a slightly discounted rate than other housing, providing the term scholarship, while residents themselves contribute to the functioning and maintenance of the hall. Scholarship halls are a means to enable students to offset not just tuition costs, but room and board costs. The general mission of the halls is an emphasis on attending college to study and achieve high academic standing while participating and fostering a sense of community.

At the University of Kansas, one of many U.S. universities that have scholarship halls, there are eleven "schol halls", all located on campus very close to the academic buildings. The halls house around fifty residents each. There are five halls for men and six halls for women. Sleeping accommodations within halls vary. Some halls provide a four-person set of rooms consisting of two sleeping rooms, furnished with bunk beds, attached to a common room. Others have a combination of bare-bones sleeping dormitory rooms, dubbed sleeping porches, that have about twenty bunk beds, with resident's personal space in a nearby study room that is shared with two or three other people. Study rooms provide space for desks, chairs, lights, bookcases, and residents' clothes. Other halls maintain a traditional dormitory style, with residents pairing together and rooming in small two-person room. Bathrooms are typically communal with many showers and sinks in a single bathroom per floor.

In keeping with the mission of the halls, residents who fail to achieve minimum GPA are not invited to return the following term. Many residents spend all four years living in the same hall, and thus the hall is in some ways like a residential college. The halls feature a variety of home-grown traditions. Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, for example, maintains a storied tradition surrounding its mascot, an interstellar aardvark known as "Haggis." While Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall builds hall unity by competing in a yearly "oldmen-newmen" football game, which pits the new members of the hall against the returning members, as well as any alumni who wish to participate.

Contents

[edit] Hall Life

The communal living style of the KU Scholarship Halls provides residents with the opportunity to meet people and maintain an active social life. Throughout the academic year, halls provide social activities for other halls, such as the annual "Schol Hall Olympics" or inter-hall game and movie nights. Within halls, residents are able to have a consistent opportunity for friendship and amusement. Most halls maintain a recreation room or area, often with a billiards table, table tennis, darts, or board games. Residents organize video or board game tournaments, pick-up sports games, or simply talk and hangout.

There are many different arrangements for eating within the scholarship hall community. Some halls provide their residents access to several small kitchen spaces, shared among a select group of residents. Other halls maintain one industrial kitchen that select residents utilize for group meals. The kitchen also remains open for individual use.

All halls require residents to share some cooking or cleaning duties as a requirement for residence. These duties range from cooking meals to cleaning showers. By being participating in hall maintenance and supporting themselves, scholarship hall residents can live on an extremely limited budget.

[edit] Hall Government

The halls are self-governed by the All Scholarship Hall Council (ASHC) with little input from the KU Department of Student Housing. This council plans social events, controls the budget, and aids in the selection of new members to the scholarship halls. Halls plan events with each other, with some events including all halls (such as hall-sponsored dances or movie nights), while other events only include two halls (like dinners with another hall).

The halls themselves are maintained by a self-elected executive board and a small staff of Housing employed residents. There is one Scholarship Hall Director (SHD), typically a graduate student, for every two halls. He/She maintains an apartment within one hall and an office in another and is responsible for the general oversight of each hall, including the ordering food. Within each hall there is a Proctor and Food Board Manager. The Proctor oversees and maintains all residential shifts and maintenance. He/She is responsible for hall disputes and acts as a liaison between the Department of Student Housing and the Scholarship Hall. The Food Board Manager is responsible for the inventory and maintenance of food and meals.

The executive board is an in-house council of residents responsible for hall decisions and government. The board consists of residents, elected to a year or semester position. Positions typically consist of but are not limited to:

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary
  • Social Chair(s)
  • Sports/Athletics Chair(s)
  • Environmental Chair
  • Recycling Chair
  • Historian
  • Health and Wellness Chair
  • Academic Resource Chair

In addition to the Executive Board, every hall maintains a Judicial Board, or ruling council over hall disputes and/or incomplete shifts. The "J-Board" consists of elected residents and is headed by the Vice President, with guidance given by the Proctor and SHD. When a resident is "J-Boarded" they appear before the group and plead responsible or not responsible for the actions filed. If found responsible, residents are typically required to do a form of hall maintenance or cleaning to account for the missed shift or error. If a resident is J-Boarded a total of five times within the academic year, they are evaluated by a member of Student Housing and may be ejected from the hall. This is, however, a rare occurrence.

[edit] KU Scholarship Halls

Watkins Scholarship Hall, the Univeristy of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Watkins Scholarship Hall, the Univeristy of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

The eleven Scholarship Halls, alphabetically, are as follows:

  • Battenfeld Scholarship Hall (Men, est. 1940) . . . The first men's Scholarship Hall at KU, Battenfeld was built in 1940 to honor the memory of John Curry Battenfeld.
  • Dennis E. Rieger Scholarship Hall (Women, est. 2005) . . . KU’s newest scholarship hall, Dennis E. Rieger Hall opened its doors in Fall 2005.
  • Douthart Scholarship Hall (Women)
  • Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall (Men) . . . Known as "G.P." or "Grace's Place."
  • K.K. Amini Scholarship Hall (Men, est. Fall 1992)
  • Margaret Amini Scholarship Hall (Women, est. Fall 2000) . . . Affectionately known as "Maggie," to avoid confusion with K.K. Amini.
  • Miller Scholarship Hall (Women)
  • Pearson Scholarship Hall (Men, est. Fall 1952)
  • Sellards Scholarship Hall (Women, est. Fall 1952)
  • Stephenson Scholarship Hall (Men, est. Fall 1952)
  • Watkins Scholarship Hall (Women est. 1926) . . . Watkins opened in 1926 as the first of KU’s scholarship halls and maintains strong bonds with alumnae by hosting an annual spring tea.

[edit] Links