The Sustainable Living Experience (SLE) is a University of Michigan Theme Community that provides students with the opportunity to experience sustainable living within a supportive community in the Oxford residence hall. The SLE is rooted in the ideals of sustainability and environmental justice, and uses this as a foundation to cultivate an inclusive learning community. The SLE strives to function as a microcosm of diverse students whose actions have generative and innovative impacts on the development of a more just and sustainable world.
Efforts towards the formation of the SLE began in 2013, when students, faculty, and staff collaborated on a funded Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund proposal to hire a part-time coordinator to continue working with students on the vision of what was then called the Environmental Community Program (ECP). The coordinator worked with the ECP Student Advisory Board, as well as the Michigan Community Scholars Program (MCSP) to enhance environmental programming within their existing learning community. The coordinator and Student Advisory Board traveled to peer institutions, conducting focus groups with students, and toured potential residence halls, eventually choosing Oxford Houses for the pilot. President Schlissel announced support for the SLE in Fall 2015 and the theme community started in Fall 2016. The SLE program is open to first year undergraduate students and housed in Program in the Environment and jointly administered by the School of Literature, Science & the Arts (LS&A) and the School for the Environment and Sustianability (SEAS).
Contact Us:
ph | 734.647.9211
fax | 734.647.7892
sustainableliving-info@umich.edu