Residential living, considered an integral part of the educational experience, provides valuable learning opportunities not likely to be encountered elsewhere.

All new students are required to live on campus and enter into a Residency Agreement. Exceptions to this policy may be made for students living with family within 15 miles of the campus, married students, students with children, and students 24 years or older. If you fall into one of these categories and wish to live off campus, contact the Housing Office at (909) 607-3132 for an Off-Campus Request form.

The majority of our students live on campus in the residence halls. Residential living enables you to share in intellectual and educational pursuits, while learning to live within a diverse community. It provides opportunities for individual growth through community involvement, interpersonal relationships, and social interaction. Few learning situations in life are potentially more challenging or rewarding.

The Residential Life staff provides a variety of programs throughout the year. These include community service programs, lectures, and off-campus excursions. Look for fliers posted around your hall and let your Resident
Assistant (RA) know what activities interest you.

Residential Life Staff Each of the five residence halls, Atherton, Holden, Mead, Pitzer, and Sanborn have trained, live-in Hall Directors, who are full time professional staff members responsible for coordinating and overseeing hall activities, including programming, advising on academic and personal concerns, supervising and coordinating student staff, working with the hall council, and daily operations. All staff members are readily available to students, while a member of each hall staff is on-call at all times.

Resident Assistants are returning students who have shown maturity, academic success, a genuine interest in helping people and enthusi-asm for student life. Generally, one RA is assigned to each floor or tower and is responsible for facilitating community development within the group.

Atherton Hall
This four-story building, adjacent to the Gold Student Center, houses 62 students. Rooms are double occupancy with two rooms sharing an adjoining vanity, bathroom and shower. Common areas include a living room, six study rooms, and laundry facilities. The lower level of Atherton Hall houses the mailroom, a music practice room, an art studio with classroom and gallery space, and the Lenzner Family Art Gallery.

Holden Hall
This two-story building houses 180 students in four wings. Rooms are double occupancy, with two rooms sharing an adjoining bathroom and shower. Common areas include a living room, television lounge, two study rooms, a kitchen and laundry facilities.

Mead Hall
(not open to new student housing)
This three-story, six-tower complex, houses approximately 225 students. Suites share a common living room with four people living on each side, for a total of eight people in a suite. Common areas include a community kitchen, laundry facilities, living room and television lounge. Mead is also home to Career Services, Center for Asian Pacific American Students (CAPAS), Arboretum manager's office, the Writing Center and The Rabbit Hole (a confidential and respectful substance abuse education and outreach program).

Pitzer Hall
This four-story building, located southeast of the Gold Student Center, houses 78 students. Rooms are double occupancy, with two rooms sharing an adjoining vanity, bathroom and shower. Common areas include a living room, eight study rooms, and laundry facilities. The lower level of Pitzer Hall houses the Office of Admission.

Sanborn Hall
This three-story building, northeast of the Gold Student Center, houses 178 students. Rooms are double occupancy with two rooms sharing an adjoining vanity, bathroom and shower. Common areas include a living room, nine study rooms, laundry facilities and a kitchen.

Special Residence Opportunities

Each year, a number of corridors in the residence halls offer themed learning and living opportunities. These special housing arrangements typically are available to returning students, although some space may be available to new students. If there are openings, they will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. To be considered, applications are accepted during Room Draw each spring; current residents decide who will be accepted for the following year.

Holden Hall houses Substance Free Living, Holden’s Ultimate Study Hall (HUSH), a thematic corridor focused on consideration and friendship. HUSH provides a community for students who want a 24-hour quiet policy for a study atmosphere. Residents also benefit from collaborative group study sessions.

Mead Hall offers Substance Free-Living and a Community Involvement Tower that exemplifies one of the College’s educational objectives. It is a residential community that demonstrates awareness of the social and ethical implications of action. Residence life in the Involvement Tower is generally self-governed within the parameters of Pitzer’s residential life policies. Students are required to attend mandatory Tower meetings and participate in and implement programs, events or activities for Pitzer’s community or the community at large.

Gender-neutral housing options will be available campus-wide beginning in Fall 2008. Gender-neutral housing provides a living environment where student housing is not restricted to traditional limitations imposed by gender and/or sex definitions. This option is ideal for students whose gender expression, gender identity and/or biological sex varies from the standard paradigm and for students who believe that their gender and/or biological sex should not be limiting factors in roommate decisions. No student will be restricted by traditional limitations of gender identity, gender expression, biological sex or other identities pertaining thereto. All students will have the option to participate in, or opt out of, gender-neutral housing.

Residence Hall Dining

Pitzer College’s dining program goes above and beyond the usual campus dining service. Our food service staff is dedicated to making each student’s dining experience tasty, convenient and economical. The dining hall is located in McConnell Center, on the first floor off the main lobby. Visit www.cafebonappetit.com/pitzer/ for the current McConnell Dining Hall menu.

Food Service Options
The dining hall offers a variety of meal plans with different service options to accommodate varied life-styles and schedules. All plans provide unlimited servings. Arrangements can be made to accommodate special dietary needs by contacting the food service director.

Your meal card entitles you to eat in any of the five-college dining facilities. All students living in the residence halls are required to have a meal plan. However, residents and their guests may purchase additional meals on an individual basis.

In addition, all students of The Claremont Colleges have a Claremont Cash account established as soon as their ID card is created. Funds may be deposited in your account by cash, check, money order or credit card (Visa and Mastercard) at the Claremont Card Center or its Web site cards.cuc.claremont.edu or call
(909) 607-2273. You may use these funds to purchase meals, books, sweatshirts and any other goods sold at locations accepting Claremont Cash. Unused funds will roll over from one year to the next. There are no cash withdrawals permitted until you terminate, withdraw or graduate from the Colleges.

Sustainable Dining
Bon Appétit, the management company that runs the McConnell Dining Hall, regularly sponsors “Eat Local Challenges” as well as “Low Carbon Diet Day.” Bon Appétit has also established a company-wide initiative called “Farm to Fork.” The goal is to offer seasonal and regional products from local farmers on a daily basis and to indicate these items on menus so individuals may specifically choose dishes featuring local ingredients

Off-Board Applications
After consultation with the food service director, if you have dietary needs that cannot be met, you may file an Off-Board Application and submit it to the Housing Office. To receive consideration, medical documentation from your personal physician and a letter from the food service director stating the college cannot meet your specific dietary needs must be included with your application.