This week, Residential Council completed the fall program house review, a comprehensive evaluation of all 20 program houses on campus, which include Greek organizations and theme houses.
"The program houses have done a wonderful job at meeting Residential Life expectations," said Senior Associate Dean of Residential Life Richard Bova, adding that the preliminary results yielded no "real egregious behavior."
While the full report has not yet been made public, general results were given to The Herald. Of the 20 program houses reviewed this fall, three houses failed, four houses were placed on warning and 13 passed.
The results are an improvement from last fall's review, in which nine houses failed and three were given warnings, said ResCouncil Chair Justin Glavis-Bloom '07.
"We raised the bar this year in terms of professionalism," Glavis-Bloom said. The changes in how the review was conducted were intended to make the "expectations clearer," he added.
All program houses on campus are expected to adhere to certain guidelines, which are posted on ResCouncil's Web site. The housing review carried out each semester by ResCouncil assesses adherence to these guidelines.
As part of the review, ResCouncil makes recommendations to ResLife, which can take actions and set policies regarding the program houses. Once the review is complete, it is "out of our hands," said Michael Morgenstern '08, chair of ResCouncil's Program House Committee.
According to Morgenstern, the review process started around the beginning of the semester, when all program houses were given a folder containing the official guidelines and a semester checklist. The two pieces of information were intended to clarify expectations for program houses before the start of the review period.
However, Glavis-Bloom noted that certain aspects of the guidelines can be unclear. This fall, ResCouncil worked on clarifying the guidelines regarding community service projects and required weekly house meetings. The council was also more flexible about when program houses had to hand in materials for assessment, Glavis-Bloom said.
Both Morgenstern and Glavis-Bloom stressed the importance of providing more information and details to the houses. "We wanted to make sure the program house community is doing its best for Brown," Morgenstern said.
The newer program houses, which include Cooking House, Art House and Interfaith House, appear to be doing "good jobs," Bova said.
Christine Sunu '09, president of Cooking House, said she considers the review process to be heading in the right direction. Sunu also sits on ResCouncil and commented that the overall process went "very smoothly" this semester.
"We want every house to pass because that is (when) the Brown community really wins," Glavis-Bloom said.
