Pepperdine University

Pepperdine University Students

The most obvious positive about student life on the Pepperdine campus is its location, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is in the heart of beautiful and expensive Malibu, CA. In addition, Pepperdine is often noted for having some of the nicest residence halls in the country. But some students have issues with the university’s relatively strict policies, including the fact that Pepperdine remains a “dry” campus, prohibits members of the opposite sex in dorm rooms between 1 and 10 a.m., and requires students to attend occasional religious convocations. About 52 percent of Pepperdine students live on campus, and 48 percent live in off campus housing.

Freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus, in the Suite Residence Halls, 22 buildings housing 50 students in each building. Suites consist of four double rooms each and include large double bathrooms, and living areas with university-owned TVs and windows overlooking the Pacific. Bathrooms and common living areas are cleaned by university staff daily. At Pepperdine, there are no coed freshman dorms and random room checks are common. In addition, student spiritual life leaders live in each residence hall.

After freshman year, students can apply to live in Rockwell Tower, which features double rooms, shared bathrooms, and a main lounge with large-screen TVs and kitchenettes. Juniors and seniors can live in the Lovernich Residential Complex, which includes double apartments for 300 students, complete with kitchenettes with stoves and ovens, refrigerators and sinks. Upper class students can also move off campus, and about 25 percent move into Pepperdine’s five fraternity houses or seven sorority houses, which are all located off campus.

If you want your own bedroom, keep your grades up. The university selects students with good grades to live in its coveted Honors Apartments, which feature four single bedrooms per apartment, a kitchen and a large living area.

The main dining hall at Pepperdine, the Waves Café, is located in the Tyler Campus Center. It offers a comfort food station, an international foods station, pizza, grill, salads, a bakery, a vegan and vegetarian station, and a cereal/breakfast bar. There’s also an on-campus coffee house, a Jamba Juice, La Brea Bakery (offering sandwiches and paninis), a free standing coffee cart, and Nature’s Edge, which features vegan, organic and gluten-free options. Students can choose from one of four different dining plans, depending on the number of meals they will eat in the dining halls.

Pepperdine also has a pool, tennis courts, a gym, and a weight room. At the Howard A. White student center, students can play pool or ping pong. Student plays and musicals are usually well-attended as well. But in the evening and particularly on weekends, many Pepperdine students look to escape campus and explore nearby Los Angeles.

There is wireless access throughout the Pepperdine campus, and three computer labs on campus, including a 24-hour lab at the Howard A. White Center. The campus also has two cyber cafes.

Pepperdine student clubs and activities include Amnesty International, the African Alliance, the Asian Students Association, a Dance Team, Debate Club, an East Coast Club, the Pepperdine Film Society, a Latino Student Association, a Table Tennis Club and even the Swashbuckler Society.

Because of the strict no-alcohol policy on campus, students say that parties in the residence halls are almost non-existent or are quickly broken up by campus police. Students with cars tend to venture off campus to fraternity parties, or to some of the dance clubs and bars in nearby Malibu, which charge hefty prices for admission and drinks.

The weather in Malibu can be perpetually like spring, and palm trees on a campus can’t be a bad thing. But Pepperdine students in recent years have experienced the region’s occasional landslides and have been evacuated during a couple of the region’s damaging forest fires.