UNITAS

UNITAS is a living-learning community dedicated to building community, tolerance and understanding among individuals of diverse backgrounds and spreading these values throughout the larger community.

Brief Overview:
UNITAS is based on sociocultural diversity and is committed to helping students discover similarities through differences. Our group actively works to challenge stereotypes and prejudice based on identities such as gender, race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation. In order to break down barriers, all residents are assigned roommates based on sociocultural differences rather than similarities.

Community Structure:
UNITAS is sponsored and supported by the Department of Anthropology, Department of Housing and Residential Education and APPLES service-learning. Students are expected to fully engage in collaborative learning while living in our residence hall, learning in the classroom and participating in a service project for the year.

• Educational experience: Participants are required to complete two 3 hour courses in the fall and spring, ANTH 092 and ANTH 093. Coursework will include completing related readings, reflection papers, final research project, and/or special events as designated by instructors. These courses fulfill Social and Behavioral Science, U.S. Diversity and Experiential Education requirements and are exclusively for members of the Unitas community.
• Residential experience: As a living-learning community, Unitas members will plan, promote and participate in programs that cultivate meaningful relationships with their peers and encourage collaborations with organizations throughout campus.
• Service experience: As a part of the ANTH 093 course, residents are expected to participate in a semester long APPLES service-learning project during the spring semester related to a topic studied in the fall semester.

Leadership and Involvement Opportunities:
UNITAS is a student-initiated community led by the Student Coordinator and Leadership Team. This student leadership oversees all residential aspects of the learning community. This includes planning educational, service, social and advocacy related activities. The leadership team is made up of both returning and new residents.

Admission Criteria:
Students accepted into Unitas express an interest living in a community whose primary focus is learning from others with diverse backgrounds. They are willing to help foster a community that emphasizes respect, tolerance and consideration for people of various gender, races, nationalities, religious beliefs and sexual orientations.

Why you should consider UNITAS living learning community:
UNITAS provides a welcoming and open-minded community for residents interested in diversity. Unitas allows you to interact with people from unique backgrounds and have meaningful personal interactions while providing opportunities to build life-long friendships. Unitas allows students to engage in an intense experience in diversity and thoughtful self-exploration.