Dormitory

''For other uses see: dormitory town

A dormitory or dorm is a place to sleep. The word derives from the French dormir, to sleep. Dormir, in turn, derives from the Latin word dormīre, also meaning to sleep.

Dormitories are usually referred to as "dorms." The word is used in three contexts:

room with many beds (a sleeping dormitory) (common UK usage);
building with many small private rooms (a dormitory building) (common US usage);
A converted sleeper car used strictly as the staff's sleeping quarters on a passenger train. See Dorm car

Many colleges and universities are now using the term residence hall (UK: halls of residence) instead of dormitory. This is based on the concept that if a dormitory is a place to sleep, then the term "residence hall" coveys a learning atmosphere which many residential living quarters have today. In a residence hall, a student might find a faculty member living in a "faculty fellow" apartment, as well as additional classroom, work, and leisure space.

Sleeping dormitory

A common usage of the term "dormitory" is for a large room with many single beds. This is the common UK usage. Examples are found in many rooming houses such as hostels. The room typically has very few furnishings except for beds. Such rooms can contain anywhere from three to approx 50 beds (though such very large dormitories are rare except perhaps as military barracks). Such rooms provide little or no privacy for the residents, and very limited storage for personal items in or near the beds.

Dormitory buildings

At boarding schools, colleges, and universities, the word dormitory is used to describe the entire building used to house students. It is this usage which is much more common in the United States, although university staff frequently prefer to use the term "residence hall" or simply "hall". Similarly, in UK universities these buildings are usually called Halls of residence (commonly referred to as halls), except at Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham where the residential accommodation is incorporated each college's complex of buildings, and there is no specific term for it (members of the college who live in its own buildings are said to be "living in").

Most colleges and universities provide (usually for a fee) single or multiple occupancy rooms for their students. These building consist of many such rooms, like an apartment building, and the number of rooms varies quite widely from just a few to hundreds. The largest dormitory building is Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy.

Formerly, many companies in the U.S. and elsewhere housed employees in dormitories. This practice has dwindled, but continues in many other countries.

Dormitories have replaced barracks at many U.S. military installations.

Typically, these dorm rooms have about 15 by 15 ft (21 square meters) of floor space, and provide the following minimal furnishings:

Twin XL bed (sometimes in a bunk-bed configuration)
Desk
Mirror
Closet space (sometimes)
Drawers (clothes storage) (sometimes)
Window
Sink with running water (rarely)

Most often, bathrooms are provided for a group of rooms, which provide shower, toilet, and sink facilities.

In the U.S., dormitories are most often segregated by gender, with males living in one group of rooms, and females in another. Some dorms are single-sex with varying limits on visits by persons of each gender. Some colleges and universities offer co-ed dorms, where either males and females reside on separate floors but in the same building or where both sexes share a floor but with individual rooms being single sex. In the early 2000's, dorms that allowed people of opposite sexes to share a room became available in some universities. ^*. Some colleges and university co-ed dorms also feature co-ed bathrooms. Most dorms are much closer to campus than comparable private housing such as apartment buildings. This convenience is a major factor in the choice of where to live since living physically closer to classrooms is often preferred.

Halls located away from university facilities are likely to have extra amenities such as a recreation room or bar. Commonly they also have Internet facilities, either through a network connection in each student room or a central computer cluster room. Catered halls may charge for food by the meal or through a termly subscription. They may also contain basic kitchen facilities for student use outside catering hours. Most halls contain a laundry room, sometimes overcrowded.

Hall governments

At some schools, each dormitory or hall has its own hall council. Where they exist, such individual councils are usually part of a larger organization called, variously, Residence Hall Association or Resident Students Association, which typically provides funds and oversees the individual building council. Hall councils plan social events and voice concerns for their residents to the university or college staff responsible for overall management of halls.

Examples

Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA has the largest dormitory system in the United States. 16,000 students live within 23 different undergraduate buildings, 1 graduate hall, and 3 apartment villages. Freshman are required to live on the 45,000+ student campus for at least their first year.

The Watterson Towers at Illinois State University are the tallest dormitory in the world. The 28-story complex, which was built in 1967 holds over 2,200 students.

The Valkendorfs Kollegium at the University of Copenhagen is a very old dormitory, founded in 1589. Though not as old as some of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, it is among the oldest dormitories in the world.

Housekeeping

University halls typically have housekeeping staff to maintain the cleanliness of common rooms including lobbies and bathrooms. Students are normally required to maintain the cleanliness of their own rooms and private or semi-private bathrooms, where offered.

External links

Rooms | House types | University and college dormitories