Students agree that while guaranteed housing is a perk of the three Thematic Learning Communities for rising sophomores, juniors and seniors, students said TLCs lack sufficient structure and focus. TLC, which houses 19 students this year, its pilot year, places participants with similar interests in the arts, health and wellness or justice, service and change in housing communities in the Castle, Rosenthal and the Village, respectively.

Elana Kieffer '07, a justice, service and change TLC resident, said the lack of guidelines made for a "rocky start," but her community has since developed a rhythm.

"TLC is an extreme form of a self-directed community," Kieffer said. "It does not just have basic rules but needs to further specific areas of interest."

Arielle Katzman '07, the Community Advisor in the health and wellness community, said the program intentionally sets rigid guidelines, and is meant to be molded by residents.

"Being a pilot program, navigating a self-directed, student-directed program is difficult because there was no plan set out for us," Abigail Weiner '06, who lives in the justice, service and change community, said.

"We were given vague programming requirements and were told to make a community and decide what that means for us and every TLC is going to decide what that means for them."

Participants are given amazing opportunities to connect and work with very important people in their fields, both on and off campus, Saara Johanson '07, CA in the arts TLC, said. "It is up to the students to make the most of these connections."

Johanson said participants take on leadership opportunities by planning programs on campus.

The students in the arts community were given the opportunity to help organize parts of the Festival of the Arts, Johanson said.

Sean Lewis Faupel '08, who lives in the health and wellness TLC, said the name "health and wellness" is too vague. "There are a lot of different ways of defining it," he said.

Katzman agreed that people have different conceptions of health, but said it is up to the residents to define it together.

"People ask if the [TLC members] are against alcohol or if they only eat carrots and celery because health and wellness are such nebulous terms. We help to define what these two things are essentially," Katzman said, adding later that her residents do eat candy.

Adi Shmuel '08, a resident of the arts community, agreed with Faupel that TLCs need to be more specific. "Arts is too big of a topic. All of the members thought of art in a different way when we applied, so we are different."

Students also said the small size of the communities is a concern because it makes it difficult to have an impact on the community.

"I don't think our name has gotten out there. We had hoped to be a resource to Brandeis," Faupel said of his eight-member community.

Ziv and Ridgewood Quad Director Amanda Daul said the TLCs must be cohesive before they can reach others. "Without creating a community, they can't effectively share with the Brandeis community, so first they have to focus on their community," she said.

Shmuel disagreed. "A TLC should fill a whole hallway, not just three rooms. It is hard to know our purpose on campus when there are no more than five people."

Weiner said the Department of Residence Life has implemented changes that residents have suggested.

One change for next year is to add a "global citizens" community" for students who wish to share their study-abroad experiences, while the arts community will not continue due to lack of interest, Daul said.

"They have a very thorough feedback process that involves the CAs and the TLC members themselves," Weiner said.

Shmuel said TLCs have the potential to be great. "Don't expect something to be right for you if you don't put your whole self into it," she said.