Residence Community Living Guide

A shared commitment

Each year, Residence Life at Dalhousie welcomes students from around the world to join a vibrant and exciting community on campus. Residence is a place where students meet lifelong friends, learn about themselves and others and have an amazing experience guided by a team of professional staff and student leaders focused on creating a community of care and concern.

Most of the students living in residence at Dal are away from home, living independently for the first time. From the outset students are supported to co-create a community charter with others on their floor that promotes well-being and creates an inclusive living environment where everyone feels they belong and can contribute. 

Living in a collective community-centered environment requires a shared commitment. Residence Life will make every effort to support those students who choose not to stay in residence or cannot remain in our community because they negatively impact others as they transition off-campus.

The Residence Community Living Guide applies to all students living in residence. In accepting to stay in a Dalhousie residence for the applicable academic term, and signing the Dalhousie Residence Agreement, you (the Resident) are stating agreement to abide by the rules and regulations and understand that failure to do so will lead to the consequences set forth by the Residence Community Living Guide.

View the Residence Community Living Guide (Truro)

Residence Life strives to make sure students have the best year possible in residence. Our work is guided by these core commitments:

• Residence is a fun, once in a lifetime experience. We know that residents are excited to be at Dal and we love that energy! We’ll do our best to create opportunities for students to build meaningful friendships and memories. 

• We co-create respectful and inclusive communities of care and concern. Guided by anti-oppressive principles, residence is a place where students feel they belong and that they matter. Students will develop skills to care for each other and share responsibility to create an inclusive culture with support from us. 

• Residence feels like a home and focuses on the wellbeing of the community. Home is a place where students can be themselves and experience a safe community. Safety can look or feel different for everyone, community safety means we focus on ensuring a collective experience of safety and security in residence. We work proactively and responsively to create an experience where students can be well, and we also work with students one on one to understand and address individualized needs if concerns arise. Residents have a role to play too in taking care of each other and are encouraged to reach out to a student leader or professional staff member if they (or someone they know) need help or support navigation. 

• We understand the importance of learning, growth and transformation. Living in residence is a huge transition, students are expected to make mistakes or experience struggles. We know that students are learning who they are and how they relate to others in real time and we believe that there is a way back to community when harm has occurred for most people who are willing to learn and grow. Our role is to help students when they need it, to connect them to resources and supports on campus and wherever possible ensure students have the opportunity to remain in residence unless they are impacting community safety in a way that we cannot address through a supported resolution plan. 

• We take a realistic approach to harm reduction - because we care about people first. We know that some students will engage in risky behaviours, including substance use while they live in residence. Our first priority when responding to concerns of this nature will be to ensure students and the community are ok. Later, we’ll work responsively to follow up and create plans that support healthy behaviour and repair any harm caused. Our goal is to create an environment where students can seek help safely for themselves or others. 

Your Residence Agreement

The Residence Agreement is a contract between you and the university. The purpose of the agreement is to protect both you and the university by outlining the responsibilities of both parties.

Most students will have accepted their agreement through our online residence application process. 

View a copy of the agreement [PDF 184 kB] For reference purposes only.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact the Residence Office.