The new sophomore residence hall on campus, simply named ‘New Hall’ for the time being, opened on Sept. 1 for move-in day. The new building is not 100 percent complete, yet it was ready enough for students to live in.
Patti Swannack, Vice President for Administrative Services, explained the name for the newly built dorm building, “We are referring to the building as ‘New Hall’ until such time as a donor may decide to name the building.”
According to Ray Gonzalez, Associate Director of Housing Operations, ‘New Hall’ has a maximum occupancy of 196 people, including students. staff, and the building’s area coordinator, Alicia Thompson.
With the ‘New Hall’s’ completion, out of the ten residence halls on campus, this new building guarantees another living facility for sophomore students. “It’s definitely been beneficial [to the Monmouth community],” Gonzalez said. “It provides students with the additional housing they are looking for.”
Most of last year’s school year, construction staff worked diligently, despite the setbacks of the weather, to bring a new residence hall into existence.
Swannack added, “As students may recall last winter was very unusual. We received approximately 70 inches of snow and frigid weather. In this environment you cannot construct a masonry building.”
She continued, “As a result we lost over four months of the schedule and were advised by the contractor that the building would not be able to open until November.”
“We said that was not acceptable and working together identified ways that we could bring the building on line for fall 2014,” said Swannack.
Sophomore resident Courtney Davis, a music industry major, did not know what to expect from the new dorm she was moving into. “I would be fine with anything but Elmwood. I was just excited to move in and have a place to live. I thought the dressers would be bigger, but I can’t complain.”
“It’s exactly what I expected,” said Head Resident Assistant Nick Whittaker, a senior political science major. “The ‘New Hall’ is really nice, very well designed. You’re always going to have problems with a newly built dorm building, but it looks great.”
Sophomore resident and accounting major John Dixon added, “The new dorm is interesting because it provides a sense of renewal of the residential side of campus.”
While ‘New Hall’ is built and ready for students to live in, not all of the building’s amenities are completely finished.
“A temporary certificate of residency to occupy the building was received Aug. 29 which allowed Residential Assistants (RA) and pre-season athletes to move in on Aug. 30, while the rest of the second year students moved in a few days later,” explained Mary Anne Nagy, Vice President for Student Services.
Dixon said there have been some issues regarding the final touches to the building. “I wish the whole thing was completely built and all details were finalized before people started moving in,” he said. “These final touches are minor, such as planting and such,” included Nagy.
Gonzalez has been receiving mostly positive feedback about the new dorm but he wants residents to know that Residential Life is addressing concerns as quickly as they can and he believes that once New Hall is 100 percent complete, everyone will be happy with it.
Despite some minor concerns, students for the most part are satisfied with their new living space. One of the main concerns with the new residence hall was the loss of parking spaces, but Gonzalez said that parking was not an issue. They closed off the parking lot last spring and they were all commuter spots, so there has been no impact on resident student parking.
PHOTO COURTESY of Marissa Conford
PHOTOS TAKEN by Marissa Conford
