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This post is part of a series about the colleges at UC Santa Cruz. For more information and a general overview of the college system at UCSC, see this post.

History

Porter College is named after Benjamin Porter, the grandfather of three contributors to UCSC. The family owned some of the land of Porter Meadow (a meadow right next to Porter College), and donated this as well.

Porter was in fact named “College Five” for about 12 years before it received its official name. Porter opened in 1969.

Theme

Porter’s theme revolves around the arts. The core course explores art and the social implications of famous works.

Location

The famous 'Squiggle' near Porter that overlooks the ocean

Porter was UCSC’s first college located on the west side of campus. Porter is currently nestled between Kresge (to the north) and College Eight (to the south), and is a short walk away from Science Hill.

Porter has two bus stops — one south of the college that it shares with College Eight and one east of the college. Only buses traveling clockwise around the school’s loop stop here, though.

Most areas of campus are accessible from Porter by foot in about 10-15 minutes, though going to the East Field area might take some time.

Housing

Porter dorms

Porter’s dorms come in singles, doubles, triples, and quads. Doubles are the most common. You can request specific floors based on your preferences — single sex, substance free, and a few others based on interests.

Currently, half of Porter’s dorms are under reconstruction. One of the large buildings that make up Porter’s quad will be under construction during the 2009-2010 year.

A Porter apartment

Each of Porter’s apartments contains two single rooms, two double rooms, two bathrooms, and a common kitchen and living room. There are four apartment buildings. From the outside, the apartments look fairly modern and even spacious, with plenty of windows and a good view of the redwoods.

Dining

The entrance to Porter's dining hall

Porter has its own dining hall that it generally shares with Kresge. Porter is perceived to offer more of a vegan/vegetarian menu, but offers about the same amount of foods as the other dining halls.

It’s definitely worth noting that the dining hall closes at 7 PM Monday through Friday, and isn’t open on the weekends. College Eight’s dining hall is a short walk from Porter and is open more hours, however, so that’s always an option as well.

Porter’s dining hall is undergoing renovation and isn’t supposed to reopen until winter 2010.

Things to Remember

• Porter carries the torch of UCSC’s reputation as a “hippy” or “hipster” school. Porter definitely caters to the more art-oriented students, as well as the marijuana culture (the traditional First Rain begins at Porter, in fact). If you’re opposed to these lifestyles, you might not appreciate Porter as much as another college.
• Be prepared for all of the construction that’s going on. You may have to wake up to the sound of jackhammers most mornings, and with the dining hall being closed, you’ll have to go elsewhere to eat.
• Even when the dining hall reopens, it still closes early and isn’t open on weekends. Be prepared to find food somewhere else at these times.

More Pictures

The entrance to Porter's apartments

Another shot of dorm buildings at Porter

A view of Porter Meadow from the apartments

More Links

• Porter College homepage
• Map of Porter College
• Porter College overview
• Information about construction at Porter
• Flickr search for “Porter College”