Special Interest Housing and Residence Life
Special Interest Housing and Residence Life. This includes options like Capen House and Africana Center, as well as Sophia Gordon Residence Hall
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Special Interest Housing and Residence Life
⭐ Special Interest Housing and Residence Life
Special Interest Housing and Residence Life
Capen House, Africana Center and Special Interest Housing
Originally built as the President's mansion in 1875, Capen House is one of the oldest and most recognizable buildings on campus. When Brookline, MA resident John Cousens became the 6th president of Tufts College in 1919, Capen House was transformed into a Women's Dormitory. It remained a dorm until 1977 when it became the African-American Cultural Center. The Center was renamed in 2001 to represent its commitment to all students of African descent at Tufts, and in 2019, the Center celebrated its 50th anniversary! The Africana Center is just one of the many resource centers on campus designed to support underrepresented students.
The other identity based centers in the Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion include: Asian American Center, FIRST Resource Center, Latinx Center, LGBT Center, Women's Center, Center for STEM Diversity, and Indigenous Center. In addition to these centers, we also have the Tufts International Center which serves our International Student population that makes up about 13 % of the undergraduate community. In addition to the centers’ roles as social hubs and gathering spaces, they also serve as emotional, academic, career, and sometimes even financial support through internship grants, job opportunities, and alumni networking and connections. Students looking to expand their experiences with the identity-based centers into their residential life experience can look into the special interest housing options available at Tufts.
Most of the identity-based centers have their own special interest housing option available, along with numerous other cultural, religious, and interest-based housing options which include Art Haus, Spanish Language House, Chinese Language & Culture House, Crafts House, International House, FIRST House, La Casa Latinx, Q'Munity House, German Language House, Asian, American House, Ethnomusicology House, Francophone House, Green House, The HIVE, Japanese Language House, Muslim House, Neurodivergent House, Russian Language / Slavic Culture House, and Substance Free House
Starting in the 2020-21 academic year, students have had the opportunity to create their own themed special interest house through the Office of Residential Life. Above all else, these centers are places where underrepresented students can go to feel supported and loved along their journey through Tufts: true homes away from home.
Residence Life at Tufts
Housing at Tufts is required and guaranteed for your first 2 years. After that, you can enter a housing lottery to stay on campus, or opt to live off campus. Many buildings are traditional dorm style, with rooms located off of the main hallways. Each residence hall has its own laundry room, kitchen, and common area.
First-year residence halls are exclusively for first-years, which gives you lots of opportunities to meet people in your class, who are going through similar experiences to you. This creates a great community and support system! You can also find support through your RA, or residence assistant. These are upperclassmen who live in your building, and can help with any housing problems, give you advice, and build a community in your residence hall.
First years live in a mix of singles, doubles, and triples, and the most common room size is a double. While you can’t pick your roommate, we do use a thorough housing survey to match you with your roommates. The survey asks about things like your sleeping preferences and study preferences. We do recognize that there could be various reasons a student might need to move during the semester, and our Office of Residential Life can work with you to find the housing you need. But, if you’re wondering how well the housing survey can work out, many first year roommates become good friends and have lived together for multiple years or even together off-campus in a apartment.
After your freshman year, you can continue living in traditional residence halls, live in an apartment or suite style residence hall, or opt into on-campus specialty housing, such as the language and culture houses, Arts Haus, and Rainbow House. After your sophomore year, you can also choose to move off campus. Most off-campus housing is in the area directly surrounding Tufts so it’s extremely convenient.
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