Just like many large universities EMU has many student oriented facilities outside the classroom. The university has plays, musicals, student organizations, and various social activities for students. On-campus hangouts include the
Student Center,
The Rec/IM,
Halle Library, and dining facilities like the Eastern Eateries and the Commons (DC1). EMU's office of Campus Life provides many co-curricular opportunities for both resident students and commuter students which include Friday night movies, Laugh Lounge and Sky Lounge. In addition to activities on campus, EMU's campus life office also organizes occasional "Eastern Excursions" to cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. Off-campus hangouts include
Depot Town, Frog Island, Riverside Park, downtown
Ann Arbor and The Ugly Mug coffee shop.
Student organizations Student Organizations at Eastern are housed under Campus Life. Most academic departments on campus have at least one student organization for students who are interested in that subject area. Students work with volunteer organizations such as Habitat for Humanity both during the school year and on breaks. Other clubs include the Muslim Student Association, Eastern Michigan
Smash Club (EMUSC) and the LGBTA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual Association). Eastern Michigan University has over 340 student clubs and organizations. EMU offers a variety of Greek organizations on campus. The Greek system provides fraternities and sororities students can join, many of which have houses within walking distance of campus. Just like most universities EMU has a
National Pan-Hellenic Council,
College Panhellenic Council and
Interfraternity Council Interfraternity Council comprises eight fraternities, and the Panhellenic Council is made up of nine sororities. National Pan-Hellenic Council consists of 9 historically African-American fraternities and sororities, five fraternities and four sororities.
Alpha Sigma Tau, a national
Panhellenic sorority was founded at EMU on November 4, 1899. Sigma Nu Phi, a local sorority, was founded on Eastern's campus September 30, 1897. It is the oldest Greek organization on campus as well as the oldest continually-functioning local sorority in the nation. Greek Life at EMU hosts a yearly event called Greek Week. Greek Week is a week of events centered on Greek unity and spirit. The week often occurs in the beginning of April. Other traditions include Greek Awards. The yearly awards are based on the university's Greek Standards and Assessment Program (GSAP).
Campus media and publications The
Eastern Echo, EMU's independent student newspaper, is published three times a week during the fall and winter semesters and once a week during the spring semester, as well as publishing content online. The paper won eight awards in the 2005 Division 1 Michigan Collegiate Press Association contest, including second place in the general excellence category. The newspaper, which is funded through advertising revenue and university funds, is not under the editorial control of the university. Also part of the EMU Student Media Office is
Cellar Roots, the school's student-run literary and fine arts magazine.
Cellar Roots celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2006 with a week of events that highlighted the history of the publication.
Cellar Roots is a five-time winner of the National Pacemaker award for design, an award often equated with the Pulitzer Prize for the college level, as well numerous other awards. EMU hosts two radio stations WQBR and
WEMU 89.1 FM. WEMU is a National Public Radio member station. The radio station, which features jazz music, has many student employees and broadcasts many EMU athletic games. WQBR stands for Quirk Building Radio, where the station was once hosted in Quirk. Today WQBR is named Eagle Radio and is no longer hosted in Quirk. Eagle Radio broadcasts from Halle library and is an Internet only radio station at www.eagleradio.org. The
LINGUIST List is a major online resource for the academic field of
linguistics. It was founded by
Anthony Aristar in early 1990 at the
University of Western Australia, and is used as a reference by the
National Science Foundation in the United States. Its main and oldest feature is the premoderated
electronic mailing list, now with thousands of subscribers all over the world, where queries and their summarized results, discussions, journal table of contents, dissertation abstracts, calls for papers, book and conference announcements, software notices and other useful pieces of linguistic information are posted.
Traditions Eastern Michigan has several campus-wide traditions throughout the school year. Longstanding traditions include
Homecoming,
Martin Luther King Jr. Week and the use of the Pray-Harrold Kiosk by students. The Pray-Harrold Kiosk (or Pillar) is a large cement pillar outside the Pray-Harrold Building and the Rec/IM. The Pillar is painted by various organizations for campus awareness, advertisements and organization unity. The legend is that it started as a flagpole and layers of paint have accumulated over the years. During Eastern's fall semester, traditions include EagleFest, Community Plunge, and
Homecoming. EagleFest occurs during the school's orientation and welcoming weekend in September. The event brings more than 300 campus offices, and student organizations together in University Park &
Bowen Field House to showcase campus organizations and services. Community Plunge also occurs during orientation and offers the opportunity for students, staff and faculty to participate in service in the Ypsilanti community. During Eastern's winter semester campus traditions include: Ethos Week; The Gold Medallion Awards; Relay For Life; and Martin Luther King Jr. Week, held in conjunction with the
Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, with speakers, community building events and awards in celebration of King and his dream. Ethos Week is a week-long annual event occurring in March and is led by the COB. The event promotes business ethics and ethics education. In 1996, the Student Gold Medallion Awards were established. The award ceremony recognizes student leaders, student organizations, divisional programs, activities or service. Eastern's
Relay For Life event is a 24-hour, yearly event held in University Park that started in 1985. The event is centered on supporting the
American Cancer Society. The event brings in campus organizations from the entire campus. The event has been held at various times during the year but in recent times the event is held in early April before the school-year ends.
Residence halls and apartments Eastern Michigan University has 14 residence halls. As of Fall 2014 first-year only residence halls will include Putnam and Phelps. Upperclassmen student living options include: the Village, Buell, and the three apartment complexes. Sellers, Wise, Walton, Downing, Wise, Hill, Hoyt, Pittman and Best house all students, regardless of class ranking. Honors students are housed in Downing and Best Halls. Past locations included Jones and Goddard Halls. Eastern also offers faculty, staff and family housing options in Cornell Courts, and Westview apartments. According to the university, approximately 5,000 students live on campus. In the fall of 2010, EMU began housing some full-time students in the Village Complex from
Washtenaw Community College, which is less than half a mile away, however the program ended in 2011 when housing enrollment went up. In 2011, Eastern Michigan became the first university in Michigan and the eighth nationwide to offer a targeted program to house single parents with their children on campus. Called "Keys to Degrees", the program will house single-parent families near each other in one of Eastern Michigan's on-campus apartment complexes, and will offer extra academic and personal support to enrollees. Dining services at EMU are operated by
Chartwells Higher Education. Facilities include one buffet-style dining hall, two
à la carte dining halls, the
Student Center food court, and convenience stores across campus. In June 2022, Eastern Michigan finalized plans to invest $200 million into a long-term renovation and addition to the campus' residence halls, including the renovation of all existing residence halls and the construction of two new residence halls.
Safety EMU former-President
Susan W. Martin, Ph.D., took office as EMU's twenty-second president on July 7, 2008, just after the university was fined a then-record $350,000 for not reporting to students the
sexual assault and murder of a student in her residence hall room. ==Athletics==