The 38 students living in Lindgren Residential College of Science and Engineering will kick off a drive on Thursday to boost non-resident membership in preparation for next year’s move to Slivka Hall.
The drive to attract potential Slivka residents will include Thursday’s information session at Lindgren and a free screening of “Shrek” next Tuesday in the Technological Institute’s Lecture Room 5.
Slivka will accommodate about 140 students. Four groups of students will live in Slivka next year: freshmen, returning Lindgren residents, students who fill out an application during the housing lottery and Lindgren’s non-resident members.
Non-resident membership already has increased from two or three members to about 12, Lindgren President John Shen said.
Shen, a McCormick senior, said that about 60 of Slivka’s inaugural residents will be freshmen and that he expects about 30 Lindgren residents to move to Slivka. The remaining 50 spots will go to non-resident members and applicants, so if more than 25 non-resident members want to move into Slivka, those who have earned the most points through dorm activities would get preference.
Residential College Coordinator Nancy Anderson did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
For non-residents to be eligible to live in Slivka next year, Shen said they must take part in four Lindgren events during Winter Quarter — two academic events, such as firesides, and two social events, such as munchies. Non-residents also must pay a fee of $35 per quarter.
Lindgren is seeking out non-resident members because residents want to live with people who are involved with the dorm and interested in science and engineering, Shen said.
Lindgren resident Kawika Pierson said that in addition to the two events this quarter, Lindgren will intensify its recruiting efforts at the beginning of Winter Quarter. A committee already has planned some events, including a Super Bowl party, and will publicize them all over campus, said Pierson, a McCormick sophomore.
Pierson said the events will reflect Lindgren’s strengths, which include an involved group of faculty advisers from several science and engineering departments.
“Lindgren’s great,” Pierson said. “If you’re working on a (biology) problem set, you can call up another professor and ask some questions and they usually help out.”
Shen said Lindgren residents planned events for this quarter because they wanted to start recruiting non-resident members before fraternity and sorority rush occurs at the beginning of Winter Quarter.
“We’re not sure the two groups of people necessarily overlap,” Shen said, “but we don’t want distractions.”
The recruiting drive was initiated by Lindgren residents, but Shen said he hopes an undergraduate Residential Life brochure informing students of the requirements to live in Slivka will attract more students.
“When Kemper (Hall) was new, everyone got a brochure in their mailbox,” Shen said. “Hopefully that will do a lot of our recruiting for us.”
Lindgren residents also are writing Slivka’s constitution and preparing for elections of Slivka’s first executive board, which will take place at the beginning of Spring Quarter. Shen said the new dorm’s namesake, Northwestern alumnus and trustee Benjamin Slivka, has been involved in drafting the constitution and let Lindgren residents have input on the new dorm’s furniture.
In addition to housing for 140 students, Slivka also will feature an Internet cafe and a “Discovery Room” in which students can experiment with innovations from various fields of engineering and science.
