Open House Learning Community

Phillips Residence Hall | 29 residents (all double rooms with private baths; coed mixed floor)
Sponsored by the Gender and Women’s Studies Department | $200 learning community fee (exception request form)

Open House is an inclusive community where LGBTQIA+ and allied students can find and create an environment of awareness, respect, and advocacy for all sexual and gender identities. We’re a welcoming and supportive space focused on building community among our intersecting identities. Located in the Lakeshore neighborhood in Phillips Residence Hall, this is a perfect space for students to engage in gender and sexuality studies and to explore ways of being active agents of social change. Through events, leadership opportunities, and community building, you’ll engage with LGBTQIA+ students, staff, and faculty in a purposeful and frequent manner, along with getting connected with a variety of different resources across campus.

As part of Open House, you’ll also have the opportunity to take a one-credit seminar each semester that focuses on historical and contemporary issues within LGBTQIA+ communities. Seminar is an amazing opportunity to learn about and from LGBTQIA+ folks from first-person experiences in an intimate, supportive environment with our Faculty Director coming from the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies.

Community Guidelines:

• Encourage each student to understand and explore their own identity formation
• Create brave spaces where residents can be their real, authentic selves in all of their social identities
• Examine power and privilege and the crucial role of allies in making social change
• Play an active role in fostering an environment of awareness, respect, and advocacy for all sexual and gender identities