Changes are in store for Residential Life here at Denison as DCGA and the Housing Department collaborate on a ‘Master Plan’ that could mean big things for future Denison students and possibly current first-years.
This ‘Residential Master Plan’ in the works would potentially upgrade our residentials halls over the course of five or so years. The housing department has had the idea for renovations long before some of the current student body has even been on campus.
Naturally as the years go by, buildings begin to deteriorate and the needs of the students living in them change.
Also, the needs of First-years vs. Upperclassmen tend to be different as we are on different sides of campus.
Shorney resident Mae Rosenthal ‘21 a philosophy major from Cincinnati, Ohio thinks the walls are “dangerously thin.”
Similar to Rosenthal, Zoe Loitz ‘21 a women’s and gender studies major from Bloomington, Illinois states, “Not only can I hear conversations from behind a closed door, but every word of it. It’s an invasion of privacy.”
As for East Quad, Tait Ziener ‘20, a psychology major from Boston, Massachusetts said, “I think that the current conditions of Crawford Hall could use a bit of updating. Currently, there are a couple of washers and dryers in the basement and on several floors they are out of service and don’t work properly.”
According to Vice President of Denison Campus Governance Association (DCGA) Atticus Daniels ‘20, “The rising number of students being accepted to Denison each year results in a higher demand for beds which we are near the capacity.”
At the end of 2017, Daniels had the opportunity to sit it on meetings with other administrators to hear various pitches from competing architecture firms wanting to spearhead the project. Housing Director Kristan Hausman and her team of administrators, as well as Daniels, decided on Ayers Saint Gross for the architecture firm.
Starting in early February, the firm began meeting with members of each class as well as student government to assess the needs of students as far as residential life goes.
No decisions have been made as of late regarding whether or not new buildings will be
built or if current ones will be affected. What we can expect, however, are more student-led ‘design sessions’ that will allow the students body to have a say in the next generation of residence halls.