Scattered across town — primarily on Broad Street — Colgate University’s theme housing allows students to live in a community with like-minded individuals and residential areas that accommodate their needs. Among those options are houses known to students as “CAS,” “the Loj” and “Pink Haus.”
The Creative Arts Society, “CAS,” is located at 80 Broad St. This theme house is designed to support students and their artistic endeavors in clubs and personal projects.
Junior Brendan Barry is a student who lives in this creative community and described his decision to live in CAS rather than other housing options for upperclassmen.
“I was originally intending on living in a townhouse, until I saw an email about theme housing which piqued my interest. My roommate told me last year about CAS, and as someone who loves music and is involved in multiple music groups on campus, this house is particularly fascinating to me,” Barry said.
Barry has been incredibly satisfied with his living arrangement, as well as the social environment of the house.
“My roommate and I decided to get matching singles next to each other, and it’s been a great choice,” Barry said. “The house has tons of fun events, such as concerts, jam nights and formals. Overall, CAS is so great.”
Junior Ethan Aday, an Outdoor Education leader, described his experience of living in “the Loj,” the Outdoor Education theme house located at 5 West Kendrick Ave. Despite having various other options such as apartments or townhouses, Aday explained the opportunity to have a “dingle” (double occupancy room filled with only one student) as a key motive behind choosing to live in theme housing.
“The Loj is a nice house, and they needed people to fill in the spring [semester]. I was abroad in the fall, and [was] guaranteed a dingle, which is a really good deal if you ask me,” Aday said.
While the previous Loj house at 70 Broad St. is currently being renovated, Outdoor Education members were still given the opportunity to live together — just at a different location. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence with theme housing, as groups can move to different houses on Broad St. to accommodate their needs. Aday explained that his process for living in the Loj looked different than traditional theme house applications.
“A housing manager put our names on the chart and submitted it to Reslife — we didn’t really have an application, it was all internally decided,” Aday said.
For prospective residents, Aday emphasized an interest in exploring the outdoors and the greater Hamilton area. He stressed that because he is able to live near others who share his passions and interests, it makes it much easier to develop meaningful relationships with his peers and for him to pursue these activities.
“I mean, it feels dumb to say, but it’s the Outdoor Ed house, so it’s an outdoor activity-oriented house,” Aday said. “If you’re living in the house, and let’s say it’s a Tuesday morning, and you want to go ice climbing, that’s a very real possibility. You can go ice climbing at six in the morning and be back in time for classes, and that’s what I did this Tuesday.”
Another unique component about the Loj is that the residents partake in a variety of seasonal group activities. Residents can expect hiking in the warmer months and winter sports in the colder months.
“It’s all seasonal; [the activities change] depending on what weather conditions are like, but for this [weather] we do a lot of ice climbing, a lot of snowshoeing, a lot of skiing in its many forms — Alpine, Nordic, Cross-Country,” Aday said.
Senior Langh Guite is the Community Leader (CL) of another house on Broad St., Pink Haus, a house dedicated to the queer community and its allies. The house regularly collaborates with Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC) and has been at Colgate since 2022.
Guite explained how Residential Life provides CLs with a list of places they could potentially be placed in. While he was initially reluctant as he wanted a more traditional apartment lifestyle for his last year at Colgate, Guite ultimately decided to accept the role.
“As I thought it over […] when I was a junior, or even during my freshman and sophomore years, I kind of wished that the CLs of Pink Haus were more in tune with the queer community on campus,” Guite said. “And instead of wishing that someone would take that mantle, […] why not just accept this position and be the person that I wanted there to be?”
Guite also emphasized the tight-knit community in Pink Haus, making it especially unique compared to other housing communities for upperclassmen.
“I think it’s nice because a lot of the residents here are inclined, like they choose to live here. Some housing placements are random, but at the end of the day, because people choose to live in Pink Haus, they are a lot more inclined to be social,” Guite said. “A lot of the time, residents will invite their friends over, so [the house] is always pretty busy.”
However, Guite stressed the very social aspect of Pink Haus, including regularly scheduled events and meetings, as being a possible deterrent for potential future residents.
“Although Pink Haus is a queer house, and provides a safe, friendly space for [individuals in the queer community], there are clubs and student events held at night, which I think deters some people because it might ruin their sleep schedule,” Guite explained. “It’s definitely going to be more of a social hub than just a residential space.”
Guite reiterated the importance of Pink Haus’s trusting and respectful community for its residents.
“The thing I appreciate the most about the residents of Pink Haus is that they genuinely care about the community,” Guite said. “It’s centered around queerness, and there are also allies in this house as well, so it’s a very comforting space. Our bathrooms are also gender neutral, and so it doesn’t feel awkward to be a man or a woman in a co-ed space. It feels like a house where you can just be yourself and not be questioned.”
