REEDER HOUSE

No clone

Like the McKelvy House Scholars program, a fixture since 1962, Reeder (named for its residence at 225 Reeder Street, formerly Theta Chi fraternity, adjacent to McKelvy), features weekly discussions and other activities on and off campus. The discussions, held at Gilbert’s, are open to all. Among the first topics were offensiveness and media, food as a cultural identity, relations between society and an individual, and social implications of the “invisible hand.”

The goal of the new program, though, “is not to be a McKelvy clone, but for the students in the house to gradually develop an identity of their own,” says Chawne Kimber, faculty adviser to both McKelvy and Reeder. Kimber pushed to establish the Reeder program after an overwhelming number of applicants bid for McKelvy House’s three open slots this fall. “I knew there would be some energetic students who would want to be pioneers.”

“Energetic pioneers”: Caitlin Kelly ’08 (L-R), Ben Doremus ’07, and Stefany Feliciano ’06.

The Reeder students, who began getting to know each other in the spring even before moving in together, are “wonderfully eclectic,” says Ben Doremus ’07, the resident adviser at Reeder House. They are indeed energetic pioneers who are determined that the program comes to have its own distinguishing characteristics, says the electrical and computer engineering major.

“This is a chance for us to create something completely new, something which nobody has preconceived notions about. It’s the most exciting chance I’ve had to make a lasting impact on the Lafayette community.”

“The whole thing is very experimental, so we can make Reeder whatever we want and try out some of our ideas,” echoes Caitlin Kelly ’08. “I look forward to creating a different kind of off-campus scholar house experience. I’m not sure what we will do to make ourselves different from McKelvy, but I’m sure we will have a lot of fun figuring it out.”