Hope College - Campus Life

Campus Life

Housing is provided by 11 residence halls, 15 apartment buildings, and 72 houses (called "cottages") that the college owns near the campus. A small percentage of students - mostly juniors, seniors, and Holland residents - live off-campus. The majority of Hope students come from the greater Great Lakes region - in 2010 approximately 90% of the student body comes from the states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Approximately 92.5% of the student body is white, students from minority backgrounds account for about 6.5% of the student body. Approximately 2% of the student body is international.

Traditions at Hope include "The Pull" and Nykerk cup, events which pit freshman and sophomore classes against each other. In "The Pull," freshmen and sophomore men engage in an elaborately prepared three-hour tug-of-war across the nearby Black River, with female students acting as moralers. This event was started in 1897. The Nykerk Cup is a competition between freshman and sophomore women (with men as moralers) in music, drama, and oration, held annually since 1936. Both traditions include separate duties based on gender and although there is slight criticism for this, both events are popular, well attended, and enjoy strong support from the campus community.

Student activities include Dance Marathon and Relay for Life, an FM radio station (WTHS-FM 89.9), newspaper (The Anchor), literary magazine (Opus), and yearbook (Milestone), plus a variety of clubs, musical and choral groups, spiritual, literary, social and athletic groups. About 10-12% of students belong to social fraternities and sororities, which are local with the exception of one fraternity and one sorority (Phi Sigma Kappa and Delta Sigma Theta respectively) to Hope rather than chapters of larger organizations. The college holds Sunday evening worship services ("The Gathering") and Monday/Wednesday/Friday chapel services on campus. Attendance at these events has been voluntary since 1970, yet students routinely fill Dimnent Chapel to its capacity of more than 1000 each time.

Among the many popular public events during the school year is the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series which regularly brings in prominent authors for free public readings. The Series is named in honor honor of poet and Hope College professor emeritus Jack Ridl, who founded the tradition in 1982.

For seven straight years (2006–2012), Hope has been listed among the "101 best and brightest companies to work for in West Michigan" survey of the Michigan Business and Professional Association.