Special Interest Communities (SICs) offer a unique residential experience by allowing sophomores, juniors, and seniors to live and explore common interests together. This living arrangement also creates opportunities for students to connect with faculty, administrators, alumni, and community leaders.

SICs are advised by a faculty member selected by the SIC and an assigned staff member from the Office of Residential Programs. The faculty adviser is knowledgeable in the subject area and serves as a resource. The staff member provides programmatic guidance and is a link to the residential community.

Special Interest Communities

• Casa Latina is a Latino social justice home. We are a safe space for all identities. We strive for a comunidad that promotes an intellectual space that creates a meaningful impact on campus. Casa Latina defies stereotypes to build respect and connections with everyone.

• Community Health House fosters open dialogue regarding issues of health and wellness. Programming centers around issues ranging from eating disorders to abortion, and discussions are open to any topics of interest. This house works with student groups on campus to increase communication among students and with the surrounding community. 
  

• Metta House provides a positive model of healthy and sustainable living with a vegetarian and interfaith environment that promotes harmony with and among the larger community. 
  

• Pan-African House is dedicated to teaching the Columbia community about the history and current struggles of all people of African descent. This includes raising awareness of political, social, racial, and even personal issues that exist within the Pan-African community. Also, the Pan-African house aims at providing a sense of community for all Columbia students who are intrested in Pan-Africanism or would like to learn more. We aim to show that the Pan-African identity is not one-dimensional, but extremely diverse so that this diversity is then celebrated.

• Writer's House provides a collaborative environment for writers by hosting readings, workshops, and talks related to poetry, prose, screen-writing, playwriting, creative nonfiction, and journalism. On a day-to-day basis, residents offer criticism, support, and an enthusiastic audience for one another's work. Writer's House also hosts events open to the larger community and attends readings, book talks, and other literary events in New York. In addition, the house provides a network for finding internships and publishing opportunities. 
  

• Potluck House is a place to share. We come together to share art, music, space and ideas over food. We believe that food builds community. We need it. We want to share it.
  

• GreenBorough develops creative and practical ways to reduce students' impact on the environment and increase campus awareness of environmental issues through example and education.
  

• Middle East House is an environment in which the culture of the Middle East and surrounding areas is explored and celebrated. We promote critical dialogue regarding the region by fostering discussions on the arts, music, literature, politics and religion. We provide a safe space for residents and the greater Columbia community to come together to appreciate the rich and diverse heritage of the Middle East.
  

• Q House is a residential community dedicated to providing a safe living environment for LGBTQ students and allies at Columbia. Q House residents engage the Columbia community in meaningful dialogue about LGBTQ issues. In addition, residents promote a collaborative campus environment that focuses on identity and further builds community among Columbia students. To this end, Q House sponsors events for the Columbia community at-large in order to establish social and educational environments in which all students feel welcome.

• Students for Substance Free Space aims to provide an environment conducive to a substance-free lifestyle for its members, to educate the Columbia community about the benefits of such a life-style, and to provide alternative, alcohol- and substance-free events for the Columbia community