Student housing at the University of California, Irvine is separated between freshmen, continuing students, graduate students, and faculty. These accommodations serve a traditional purpose of housing residents, but also serve as a long-term outreach incentive for new freshmen and faculty. Student housing also play a key role in developing campuswide social activities. Buildings in the Middle-earth student housing community are named after places and characters from the fictional world of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings fantasy story. Additionally, although unrelated, the main circular road on campus is called Ring Road.
Freshmen
Accommodations
Freshmen are typically assigned to live in either Middle Earth or Mesa Court; each residence hall is managed by a student Resident Advisor. Freshmen are no longer assigned to Arroyo Vista which accommodates continuing students in special theme houses.
Because of increasing enrollment in recent years, on-campus housing is only guaranteed for freshmen and transfer students. As of 2006, freshmen may take advantage of a two-year university housing guarantee. Furthermore, all freshmen receive academic advising, introductory university seminars, and freshmen-only activities through UCI's new First Year Initiative.
Built in 1965, Mesa Court was the first housing complex established at UCI. However, Middle Earth, established in 1974, has a reputation for being a more closely-knit community than Mesa Court. This is perhaps since it shares more centralized common areas (some of which are adjacent to Ring Road), smaller phase one dorms, and established housing traditions. Middle Earth started out with seven halls: Hobbiton, Isengard, Lorien, Mirkwood, Misty Mountain, Rivendell, and The Shire. Phase II later opened in 1989-1990 with additional thirteen halls: Balin, Harrowdale, Whispering Wood, Woodhall, Calmindon, Grey Havens, Aldor, Rohan, Gondolin, Snowbourn, Elrond, Shadowfax, and Quenya, Lastly in Fall 2000, Crickhollow, Evenstar, Oakenshield, and Valimar were opened. This contrasts with Mesa Court, which is built on expansive and hilly terrain (which sometimes deters non-essential travel) and located far from Ring Road and the central campus. Additionally, Mesa Court has a large number of high-volume residence halls on the far side of the campus, thus encouraging more socialization within specific dormitories themselves. However, each community has a distinct personality and pride all their own, with students identifying strongly with the community in which they reside. Additionally, it is not uncommon for students from both housing communities to intermingle and attend each other's events.
Both Mesa Court and Middle Earth offer general use dormitories alongside theme dormitories. Themes vary widely and include Campuswide Honors, leadership, diversity, LGBT issues, school-or major-specific programs, drug abstinence, and the like. Incoming freshmen usually have their choice of dormitory theme (or lack thereof), and residence in any given dormitory offers significant dividents for those who actively participate in theme events. The general theme for the dorms in Mesa Court is based on Spanish names such as Laguna, Niebla and Jardin. As for Middle Earth the general theme is based on the popular series The Lord of the Rings. Some dorm names include Crickhollow and Evenstar. In Mesa Court, the dorms are arranged in suites of four or five rooms and a study room which is shared by the suite. The dorms are usually two or three stories with about three suites on each floor. Middle Earth includes hall houses with 45 – 75 residents. Most rooms are double occupancy, but there are also triples in Phase II and Phase III halls. Quenya has 60 single rooms. The suites in the Middle Earth halls include about five - seven rooms which may be single-sex or coed. Each room is furnished with beds, wardrobes, desks, bookcases, and chairs. Each hall has access to a small kitchen, laundry facilities, and a common room with a TV.
Dining services
Residents of Middle Earth and Mesa Court are required to choose and pay for a meal plan to complement their monthly rent expenses; voluntary meal plans are available to all other students and community members. These meal plans may be employed at one of many on-campus eateries such as Phoenix Grille, B.C.'s Cavern on the Green, and Bistro by the Bridge (through the use of debit ZotBucks), or in one of three dining halls.
The two main dining halls, Mesa Commons and Pippins Commons, are located in Mesa Court and Middle Earth, respectively. Middle Earth also has a second dining hall, Brandywine, which specializes in freshly-prepared food and quick entrees. Most students at UCI prefer Pippins Commons and Brandywine over Mesa Commons. Even though Pippins Commons and Brandywine are across campus from Mesa Court, many Mesa residents find it worthy of the time to walk to Pippins and Brandywine just to eat! Thursday dinners are referred to as "premium night," a tradition that offers patrons particularly high-quality meals (with past meals including grilled steak and crab legs). Every month, both of the Commons host a special birthday event or theme dinner (with past themes promoting foods from Hawaii, China, Latin America, and so forth). The Commons are both open throughout the weekday and twice during the weekends (for brunch and dinner); Brandywine is generally closed on weekends and offers a more limited weekday schedule.
Other undergraduates
Non-freshmen undergraduates live in Campus Village, Vista del Campo, Arroyo Vista, or in one of the many apartment complexes off-campus. Campus Village, located off Ring Road next to the School of Biological Sciences, comprise university apartments in which residents are chosen and paired together via lottery. As an apartment complex, Campus Village uniquely employs active Resident Advisors (RAs). Vista del Campo (or "VDC" for short), is a modern on-campus apartment managed by American Campus Communities, a private firm. Nearby Vista del Campo Norte, an extension of VDC, was recently completed in 2006. Both complexes have ultra-modern amenities such as swimming pools, private theaters, and large recreation centers. They also employ Community Assistants (CAs) who manage the recreation centers and offer limited event planning.
Arroyo Vista is composed of "houses" accommodating 16, 24, or 32 residents each as of fall 2005. These houses combine the setting of a family-style residence with the amenities of a dormitory, which leads to strong resident camaraderie and dynamic community relationship. Prospective Arroyo Vista residents must meet the academic requirements of each house and write essays as part of the application process. The houses themselves are divided between academic themes and Greek interests. Academic theme houses are sponsored by a department or on-campus organization, and incorporate courses or events relevant to the house theme (e.g. Biology or Campuswide Honors). Greek houses are allocated to fraternities and sororities, and can be compared to the equivalent of a Greek Row. And recently, Arroyo Vista introduced an International Village, which will combine international students with undergraduates into four adjacent theme houses.
Social activities
Planning
All undergraduate student housing complexes at UC Irvine employ a two-tier structure for planning and implementing social activities. The first tier involves Resident Advisors (RAs) and House Assistants (HAs), whose responsibilities include planning social activities for their residents. These student staff members employ a housing budget to plan events that revolve around a housing theme (if it exists), an educational theme, a special event (such as a faculty lecture), and community development (social activities). RAs and HAs are required to host a set number of each aforementioned type of event each quarter; most often exceed this requirement. Many ad hoc and impromptu events are also organized and held outside of the housing office's requirements, making student staff relatively autonomous when implementing events. Accountability comes in the form of extensive paperwork documenting event descriptions, the number of participants, and all budgetary expenses.
The second tier involves Community Programmers (CPs) and housing office professional staff, who plan complex-wide events. These individuals are responsible for developing community-wide events to create cohesion amongst all residents, regardless of the building in which they live. These events usually employ larger budgets and bigger publicity efforts, and must also be held accountable for planning and expenses. These complex-wide events may either be held in the local community center, open space, or available dormitory. Additionally, CPs and the professional staff are required to host a set number of monthly events.
Residents of Vista del Campo rely upon Community Assistants (CAs), who are roughly analogous to Resident Advisors in Campus Village. However, CAs have far fewer responsibilities for social activities in comparison to student staff with UCI Student Housing. Additionally, specific dormitories or houses with special themes may have additional student staff on hand to plan events. For example, Sierra in Mesa Court employs Sierra Programmers (SPs) to articulate the dormitory's unique diversity theme, while the Campuswide Honors Program coordinates with its theme dormitories and theme houses for Campuswide Honors events.
Traditions
In addition to conducting hundreds of events every year, UCI Student Housing al
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