Harrison House (Fredericton)

Harrison House is a university residence at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It was built in 1962 as part of the largest building program ever at UNB which included several other residences and faculty buildings. When it was built it was operated as an all male residence, but from September 1991 to present, it has been a co-ed residence on the UNB Fredericton campus. The mascot for Harrison is the Husky and the house colours consist of red, and black.

At UNB in 2011, there are fourteen different residence houses to choose from, each with its own character, culture, and traditions. There are one men's, two women's, nine co-ed, one apartment style, and one suite style residence. Most of the early residences have changed in format from single-gender houses to co-educational style configurations since their original construction from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Harrison changed from male residence to co-ed residence for autumn 1991.

The UNB residence community is loosely based upon the Oxbridge system of separate colleges within a federalised university system. As such, Harrison is part of a larger community of residences at UNB. It is located as part of campus' central 'quad' zone. The residence community has various staff and leadership, and at the house-level, a Don -(faculty/staff or senior grad student )- who lives in the residence. The Don is assisted by floor Proctors and educational Proctors - (senior undergraduates who help the students adjust to residence and university life).

Former residents have varied views on the evolution or devolution of the quality of experience students gain from living in residence over the years. Some say that residents were formerly encouraged to identify closely with the unique character and traditions of their house, often as a result of previous parental attendance at UNB. House Dons and Residence Fellows provided a modicum of adult supervision and generally set the tone for how the House operated. They would say that recent times have seen UNB administration to have imposed many more rules and regulations and this has arguably changed residence markedly.

The social aspect of life in residence, and particularly in Harrison has changed substantially over the years with each subsequent time period referring to a past period as a utopia. Accurately, each change has imposed a different degree of controls on social activity.

At one time, many residences operated in-house bars wherein they hosted regular parties. In later years, the bars were abolished, and the Dean of Residence office operated Campus Bar Services, a travelling bar service. Bar Services would be hired by each residence when hosting a regulated social event, of which several were permitted per term. There is now a limit of one such party per term. These limitations have been enforced to alter the image of UNB as a party-school. Also, the Liquor store on Prospect Street was named the busiest in the province, anecdotally because it was closest to UNB.

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