Brown College at Monroe Hill
Encyclopedia
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University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, United States.
Originally named Monroe Hill College, Brown opened in 1986 as the first modern residential college
Residential college
A residential college is an organisational pattern for a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship with the overall...
at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. It was renamed Brown College at Monroe Hill in recognition of the endowment donated by the Brown family (of the Brown-Forman Corporation) in 1994. The college is led by a Principal of the College and a Director of Studies. About fifty faculty fellows from many departments and schools of the university maintain close ties to the college.
The college is arranged by buildings called portals (the portals are as follows: Davis, Smith, Mallet, Long, Venable, Gildersleeve, McGuffey, Harrison, Tucker, Holmes, Rogers, and Peters). Each houses approximately 24 students and are interconnected by tunnels.
Membership
Brown College residents can be of any year at the University (as opposed to other residence halls, where restrictions are placed based on the year of the student). Acceptance into Brown College is competitive. The application process for residence in Brown College requires completion of a formal application which includes several out-of-the-ordinary essay questionEssay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s, such as "Have you ever been to jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
? And if not, why?" and "You have been chloroformed
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
. You wake up naked in the basement of the Rotunda
The Rotunda (University of Virginia)
The Rotunda is a building located on The Lawn in the original grounds of the University of Virginia. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Construction began in 1822 and was completed in 1826, after...
with a homemade flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
, a short length of rope, a ballpeen hammer, and a document from the Finnish government explaining your situation and providing a short list of assignments. What are they?" Applicants are also generally given a blank page and instructed to use it as they see fit.
Applications are reviewed by both current Brown College residents and administration before a waiting list of students is posted online on the Brown College website. Students whose names on the waiting list become highlighted green are offered a room in Brown. Once a student has been accepted and chooses to live in Brown College, that student is guaranteed residence until they graduate from the University.
Governance
The student leadership of Brown is provided by both the Brown College Governance Board (Govboard) and the Resident Staff (Resstaff), all of whom may use money budgeted for student activities. Intra-portal events are run by Portal Representatives, and have ranged from cultural dinners and movies to more edgy events such as "Eat and Get Out," "Picto-telephone," and "Guess the Behind."Events meant for the general Brown Community are run by co-chairs. Such co-chairships include:
- Hauntings: In charge of setting up the annual Hauntings at Monroe Hill, a HalloweenHalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
event meant to raise money for charity - Social: Responsible for the two semi-formal dances, and a huge host of other events for all of Brown
- Academic and Cultural Events: Responsible for bringing the arts and academics to Brown
- First Year Liaisons
- Brown Earth
- Intramurals
The Executive Board of Govboard consists of the Grand Poohbah
Grand Poobah
Grand Poobah is a term derived from the name of the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado . In this comic opera, Pooh-Bah holds numerous exalted offices, including "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral... Archbishop of...
, the Shama Lama Ding Dong
Shama Lama Ding Dong
"Shama Lama Ding Dong" is the title of a song written by Mark Davis and performed by fictional band Otis Day and the Knights in the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House...
, and the annually renamed Treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
. The names were chosen on the theory that their powers would be more difficult to abuse given such humorous and unlikely titles. The Grand Poohbah roughly corresponds with the position of President, and is responsible for managing external relations. The Shama Lama Ding Dong, with position similar to a Vice President, runs the weekly Govboard meetings and all internal affairs.
Activities and history
Each semester, Brown College offers the university community intellectually engaging courses and short courseShort course
In Swimming, the term Short Course is used to identify a pool that is 25 metres in length. The term is also often included in meet names when conducted in a short course pool...
s on a range of diverse topics such as "Arthurian Legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
," "The Influence of Schopenhauerian Metaphysics in Wagner," and "History and Science of the Modern Firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
." Most of these short courses are taught by students living in Brown.
In the fall, Brown College puts on Hauntings- a series of haunted tents and rooms constructed within three days and taken down one day after the run completes. Hauntings, which began in 1990, raises money for charity and provides a tradition for both the students at the University of Virginia and the local families of Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
.
The buildings which make up Brown College and Monroe Hill have significant historical value. The Monroe Hill House was James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
's residence and family farm, and the Grounds of the University of Virginia are built upon land purchased from the former president
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. The Hill House is the original house in which Monroe resided. When built in 1929, the portals were the first new dormitories since the founding of the University, and originally housed first year students.
Timeline
- 1929: The portals were built as a response to growing numbers of students at the University.
- 1935: Portals designated first year only residences
- 1952: McCormick Road Residences built for first years
- 1970s: Dorms transition from male Graduate housing to coed, graduate and upperclass undergraduate housing
- 1986: Monroe Hill College residential college established
- 1994: Renamed Brown College at Monroe Hill and made a permanent residential college
- 1997: First years (30) are allowed to live in Brown College
- 2006: Number of first years increases from 30 to 46