By Ketul PatelThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern students who moved into two North Campus dorms this fall are reaping the benefits of summer remodeling courtesy of the Office of Student Affairs.
At 584 Lincoln, a former fraternity house on North Row, an area the university once considered tearing down, the common room now features a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall, bar chairs adorned in leather and a new billiards table.
NU also completed cosmetic renovations this summer at Goodrich House, a dorm in the Fraternity Quads.
Anne Vanosdol, associate director for conference planning, came up with the pilot project.
The common spaces in both Goodrich House and 584 Lincoln, as well as the sleeping rooms in Goodrich, were updated with new finishes and furniture, she said.
Vanosdol chose Goodrich and 584 Lincoln because “they were small houses that could be used as pilot programs for future renovations,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.
William Banis, vice president for student affairs, said he wants to see if these cosmetic changes contribute to student learning.
Goodrich House was an all-female dorm last year but was converted to co-ed – with men and women living on separate floors – starting this year. This year, all assignable rooms were converted into singles in both halls, according to the Residential Life Web site.
Goodrich House is at full capacity this year while 584 Lincoln has two empty rooms, said Mark D’Arienzo, associate director for university housing .
These renovations are necessary because many halls are old, Banis said.
“We’re playing around with color schemes and looks instead of just putting in exactly what Facilities Management tells us we need,” he said. “We’re working with more designer things.”
Banis said the administration might consider applying these renovations to other campus residence halls.
“We want to see how students respond,” Banis said. “If student response is good, we will see what we can do for next fall or summer.”
Banis said a residence hall advisory committee, composed only of students, soon will be formed to assess the direction of any future projects. The committee will evaluate how much money to put into future projects, as well as which halls should be next in line for renovations.
The committee will “thoroughly evaluate housing stock and look at options and what those options might cost,” Banis said.
The new renovations will be more feasible now because NU is nearing the end of a project to make all residence halls compliant with Evanston’s fire safety code, he said.
Banis said NU and Evanston made an agreement five years ago to make all buildings compliant within eight years. The project, which included installing fire sprinklers in all residence halls, cost “tens of millions,” he said.
NU finished bringing all undergraduate halls up to compliance during summer 2005, while the work on McManus Living-Learning Center was finished this past summer, Banis said. Work on Engelhart Hall is scheduled for next summer.
“We’re now coming to the end of it, so we will start investing in making the halls nicer for students,” Banis said. “We can’t do it all at once, but we will do it incrementally.”
Communication junior Alicia Thibou said she is happy with the changes in her residence hall, 584 Lincoln.
“It’s beautiful – it’s home away from home,” she said, eating a bowl of noodles in the kitchen in front of the new television. “It didn’t feel like that before, but it does now.”
Reach Ketul Patel at [email protected].
