WEB UPDATE, September 4, 7:00 a.m.
Dartmouth Outing Club Trips participants have found themselves camping out in Leverone Field House while 57 students on late Trip sections will not be able to move into their dorms until Sept. 11 due to delayed occupancy permits for the new residence halls.
As The Dartmouth reported in late August, the last of the new residence halls to be completed were scheduled to receive occupancy permits on Sept. 6. This date has been pushed back to Sept. 11 due to incomplete construction for three of the new halls in the McLaughlin Cluster: Byrne II, Goldstein and Thomas, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said.
The Office of Residential Life now aims to have all dorms ready for occupancy on freshman move-in day, Sept. 12.
"We were hoping this wouldn't be the case, but it's not unexpected," Redman said of the delay. "We've had contingency plans sitting in a drawer, so we're implementing phase one of the contingency plan."
The three dormitories affected by the delayed occupancy permits house 163 beds, but only freshmen on DOC Trips that return to campus between Sept. 7 and Sept. 10, along with upperclassmen who planned to move in early, will be affected.
Students who cannot sleep in their assigned rooms will be given alternate housing in buildings not being occupied during Fall term like the Lodge, Hitchcock Hall or the Treehouses. Students in Byrne II, Goldstein and Thomas will be able to drop off their belongings in their permanent rooms as early as Sunday.
"We don't have any difficulties with trips E, F or G in getting their stuff in the rooms before they go," Redman said.
Due to the spillover of students into traditionally empty residence halls, those participating in DOC Trips spent their first night in Hanover sleeping in Leverone Field House instead of Topliff Hall, as is custom. Even a secondary option of employing Hitchcock Hall was abandoned days before Trips began due to the various housing dilemmas.
"Leverone, at least from our perspective, turned out to be a great alternative to accomplish the program goals for the first night," Redman said.
2006 DOC Trips Director Colleen Wearn '06 did not return phone calls about the situation.
ORL collaborated with the athletics department to allow students to spend their first night of Trips together in Leverone.
According to Redman, ORL has had some inquiries about the situation, but has not received negative feedback or complaints about the delay.
"I think given where we are with the completion of the buildings, at this point there's nothing foreseen that says we won't make the [Sept.] 11," he said.
Many incoming freshmen did not express much concern, saying that ORL has contacted them about the situation. Others said they were more frustrated.
"I can tell you that a lot of the [freshmen] who I met on section A of DOC Trips are uncomfortable about moving into unfinished dorms," Michael Brasher '10 said. "It adds anxiety to what's already not an easy time."
Some work on the buildings will be completed even after students move in, but workers should not cause a disturbance, according to Redman, who said most of the finishing touches that have yet to be completed are in common spaces, not student bedrooms or bathrooms.
Mechanical work will continue into December, while landscaping will be done in September according to a BlitzMail message students received from Rachael Class-Giguere, director of undergraduate housing.
Televisions and hallway bulletin boards, for example, will likely not yet be installed when students move in.
"I think students can live without a television set for a day or two," Redman said. "They can watch on their computers."
