According to Northwestern’s Residential College Board, “The purpose of residential colleges is to promote interaction with faculty and academic advisers outside of classrooms and offices, strengthen residents’ sense of community and connection to Northwestern, and enrich the intellectual, cultural, and social lives of residents by cultivating lifelong habits of learning and responsibility”. These ideologies are the pillars of residential college communities. They are what give residential colleges their strength, and they are also what make West Fairchild (ISRC) the beautiful home that it is.

West Fairchild was officially opened in the fall of 1981 as the home of the International Studies Residential College (ISRC). Under its first master, History Professor Jock McLane, ISRC sought to provide a safe and welcoming living arrangement that offered a new, global perspective. This was a one-of-a-kind accommodation at the time. In fact, West Fairchild was the first and only building on Northwestern’s campus to have language-themed dining tables, living suites for students with similar socio-cultural interests, and a general atmosphere encouraging involvement with international affairs.

The structure of West Fairchild itself was built in the early 1980s as part of the $23-million South Campus Building project, which also included the construction of the Jones Fine and Performing Arts Residential College, Public Affairs Residential College, 1835 Hinman, North and South Mid-Quads, and the refurbishment of the McManus Living-Learning Center. Constructed at the cost of $2.2 million, West Fairchild is composed of 3 floors, houses approximately 107 students, and is comprised of 8-person suites. If you’ve ever heard of a building with a similar structure, then perhaps you’ve seen ISRC’s “sister structure”, East Fairchild, on your journeys through the interwebs. This similarity is due to the fact that West Fairchild was built as one of two Sherman Fairchild Residential Colleges. The neighboring building, East Fairchild, is the home of the Communications Residential College.

Finally, as an acknowledgment of his dedication, we’d like to thank the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and its founder, Sherman Mills Fairchild (1896-1971), for his $2.2 million contribution to the building and development of West Fairchild. Without this generous contribution, the place we call home would have never existed.

To get more information about involvement in ISRC or the Residential College Board as a whole, please visit the RCB website.

We hope to see you soon!