This South Campus residential college goes by many names: ISRC, International Studies Residential College, West Fairchild, Best Fairchild (if you ask a spirited ISRC resident), Worst Fairchild (if you ask a resident of its rival dorm, CRC/East Fairchild) and “What’s that?” (if you ask anyone who lives on North Campus, and probably a large percentage of South Campus residents too). Its naysayers say ISRC is a decrepit building with absurdly tiny rooms and an anti-social atmosphere, but many of its residents love the sense of community, suite/lounge setup and abundant free food. It may not be the dorm for hardcore partiers or aspiring frat stars, but if you’re looking for a small, quiet South Campus dorm with a gigantic pineapple mascot, it may be the place for you. Plus, renovations over the past summer mean better furniture, new wood-laminate floors and improved bedroom furniture to make life a little more bearable.
“The community isn’t bad. I’m not really involved in it, but it’s there. It’s a good dorm for freshmen, especially if you’re looking for a smaller community, but I wouldn’t live here again.”
Caroline Gaglio, Weinberg freshman
“I like that it’s small. I think the community is really nice, you really get to know people. It’s a pretty social dorm, especially since we have the suites. The rooms are nice, and I like that there’s wood floors instead of carpet. ”
Maribel Fernandez, Weinberg freshman
“The location is a plus. It's really close to downtown Evanston, the library, and a couple dining halls. However, the facilities are not the best. The community isn't closely-knit, but you definitely can make friends if you want to. ”
Nicole Fang, McCormick freshman
Reporting by Matthew Zhang, Hyunjee Lee, Mia Zanzucchi, Arielle Schwartz, Leo Ji, Rosalie Chan, Margaret Corn, Harrison Simons, Lizzie Philip, Isabella Jiao, Virginia Nowakowski, Nicki Kaplan, Audrey DeBruine, Alejandra Fernandez, Alyssa Morvis, Missy Chen, Rachel Wolfe, Morgan Smith
Photos by Mia Zanzucchi, Christopher Bayston, Leo Ji, Virginia Nowakowski, Brianna Willis, Audrey DeBruine, Alejandra Fernandez, Missy Chen
Videos by Matthew Zhang, Hyunjee Lee, Mia Zanzucchi, Arielle Schwartz, Leo Ji, Rosalie Chan, Margaret Corn, Harrison Simons, Lizzie Philip, Isabella Jiao, Virginia Nowakowski, Nicki Kaplan, Audrey DeBruine, Alejandra Fernandez, Alyssa Morvis, Missy Chen
Editing by Tanner Howard, Austin Siegel, Morgan Kinney, Alex Duner, Erin Bacon, Petra Barbu
Design and development by Alex Duner, Tyler Fisher, Hilary Fung, Dan Hill, KK Rebecca Lai, Sheng Wu and Katie Zhu
This project is open source. Check it out on GitHub.
Data provided by Northwestern University Residential Services
Last updated May 24, 2016