While freshmen and sophomores are required to live in campus residence halls, many students stay on beyond their sophomore year. Juniors and seniors can also live on campus at the Archbishop Murphy Apartments, which provide greater flexibility for upper-class students. Each residence hall becomes its own unique community with a distinct personality.
Residence halls and apartments are safe, secure and comfortable—a social hub in which to learn and grow. A full-time staff member in each building coordinates students with a staff of resident assistants and members of the Residence Hall Association. These student leaders help make the transition to college life easier and help you make the most of your time at Seattle University. Residence hall staff also plan educational activities to enrich students' experience on campus or in the local community. Jesuit moderators and residential ministers also live here, and many students rely on them as counselors and mentors.
About half of our entering freshmen live in Academic Residential Communities. These communities are designed for freshmen. They link the theme of the students' coursework with their living environment—meaning that students live and study together. Students take classes with others on their floor and share involvement in frequent exciting and distinctive co-curricular activities. Theme floors bring freshmen and upper-class students together around common interests. Residents participate in ongoing social and educational programming focusing on the floor's theme. These learning communities make it easy to make friends with similar interests, form impromptu study groups and get to know faculty members better.
One such residence is the Xavier House Global Living Community. The house's learning community centers on Global African Studies and theme floors that emphasize foreign languages, including Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. Xavier House also includes a component of the Modern Languages and Literature department. Some 185 students call Xavier home, all sharing a commitment to global studies, cross-cultural education and a desire to live in a culturally diverse and enriching learning community.
