Campus

IU Bloomington

Installation Date

10/25/2019

Marker Text

Collins has been a national leader in high-impact residential education centered of self-governance, the arts, and sustainability since 1972. Built as the first university-owned dormitory in 1924, Washington Hall (now Smith, formerly South Hall) housed students previously scattered in private rooming houses. With West (now Edmondson) and North (now Cravens) Halls, opened in 1940, it formed the Men’s Residence Center. From 1942-44 MRC hosted the U.S. Naval Training School, which trained more than 5,000 personnel for wartime service, and from 1959-61 it was the site of the Air Force Language Training Program. MRC became coeducational in 1970. A student campaign saved it from being repurposed as office space, and in 1972 MRC became IU’s first Living-Learning Center, an experimental community modeled on residential colleges where students gained responsibility for shaping the academic curriculum. It was named in honor of former MRC headmaster Ralph L. Collins in 1980.

Read more here.