Community Expectations

Residential communities exist to support the educational mission of Dartmouth College. Each student living in College housing is responsible for observing standards of conduct that permit other residents to live in and maintain a safe, secure environment that is conducive to academic and personal success.

Expectations, Policies, and Services

On-campus housing is an opportunity for Dartmouth students to live and learn together in a community environment. Residential Life is actively engaged in the process of encouraging the development of responsible citizens and healthy communities. Responsible membership in a community — citizenship — requires that students learn to express their individuality as well as to understand and consider the impact that expression has on others. A positive sense of community develops only when students assume the responsibility to work towards the successful participation of all members. Essential to this process is each resident’s responsibility to openly communicate with other members of the community.

Residential Life staff provides support through relationships that focus on care and concern and through the maintenance of clear boundaries for appropriate, safe behavior. These boundaries are important because they encourage predictable environments as well as ensure that individual behavior does not interfere with the legitimate rights of other members of the community. Students can gain personal insight and learn the responsibilities of citizenship by being held accountable for their own behaviors.

All Dartmouth students are expected to adhere to the College Residence Policies and Terms, as well as all College rules and regulations that students are charged to know and observe. No system of standards can fully address in specific fashion all possible situations that arise. When these standards do not address a specific behavior, students are expected to conduct themselves with a spirit of social responsibility and respect for the rights and needs of others. Behavior that violates the spirit of the College Residence Policies and Terms may be addressed, as appropriate to the context and circumstances of the behavior.