One of the biggest challenges of being a college freshman is getting involved in the campus community. Despite orientation programs designed to spark student interest and raise comfort levels, it can be especially nerve-wracking to break into pre-established groups when one first arrives on campus.

The University’s new Writing Hall, all-Freshman dorm located on the fourth floor of Clark Hall, seeks to remedy this very problem. Last week, guests attended a formal introduction dinner at the Russell House to celebrate the opening of the Writing Hall. Attendees included residents, as well as members of the English department and the Writing Program.

As the first themed living option for freshman, the hall serves as a place where writers can gather as a community. With no curfews, special dorm hours, or mandatory writing meetings, the Writing Hall is like most dormitories on campus.

“[The hall is made up of] a group of really cool people who all have similar interests, more than we might if we were just a bunch of random frosh thrown together,” said Writing Hall resident Lindsey Grimes ’12.

According to Anne Greene, Director of Writing Programs, students made suggestions to the Creative Campus Committee to form a community of writers. After forwarding the information to President Roth, Greene, with the support of Vice-President of Student Affairs Michael Whaley and the entire Residential Life staff, agreed to follow up on the idea, with the end result being the creation of a living option specifically for writers.

“Writers, generally speaking, think of writing as a solitary activity,” Greene said. “This is part of a larger initiative to highlight Wesleyan’s extraordinary strength as a school for writers. This doesn’t just apply to students in the humanities, but to students in the maths and sciences as well.”

Lucia Pier ’08, graduate student and Russell House Arts Fellow, acts as liaison between the Writing Hall and the Russell House. She works closely with Chiara Di Lello ’10 and Davy Knittle ’11 who are both Co-Coordinators of Programming for the Writing Hall. Along with Greene, Pier, Di Lello and Knittle have many goals for the hall, including a lecture series for writers under 35 on the East Coast. Collectively, these aim to strengthen the connection between the many writers at Wesleyan and the overall community.

Several open mic nights are planned for hall residents as well as the broader University community, and a literary publication of the University’s writing community will be produced twice a year. Upperclassmen who are active writers in the classroom will lead poetry, fiction and non-fiction workshops designed to expand the interests of young writers by exposing them to different genres of writing.

Since the University does not offer a writing major, students often think that they cannot pursue a career in writing. The Writing Hall seeks to send a clear message that this is simply untrue. The hall’s many programs are geared towards making the University more accessible to writers, while exposing students to the existing writing community on campus.

“[I hope that the Writing Hall will] explode the boundaries of where you can get published on campus,” Knittle said. “The idea behind the Writing Hall is to show that the Wesleyan Community is made up of many more people than are heard. The Writing Hall hopes to generate a more approachable campus for writers.”

Whaley and Greene, along with Knittle, Di Lello and Pier, will observe the Writing Hall as the year progresses to determine whether it will continue. As of late, students appear excited and invested in the hall.

“The degree to which people were enjoying [the hall] was a wonderful surprise,” Greene said. “Students were saying that the writing community at Wesleyan felt very fragmented. It occurred to us that small adjustments could have a rather large effect. The Writing Hall is building on what we already did well.”