This article is featured in the 2024 Homecoming Special Issue.
Construction on campus tends to have a ripple effect. Residence halls shut down; roads close; foot traffic is redirected. Students have been experiencing many of the same renovation projects for years.
Many new arrivals, though, are just learning. As they adjust to life on campus, members of the Class of 2028 are experiencing Hanover, for the first time, under development.
Freshmen are already facing some of the inconveniences brought on by renovations, according to Molly Mendoza ’28, who said the noise of certain projects has proved disruptive.
“[The construction] is really inconvenient, especially walking around here,” Mendoza said. “I can also hear the West Wheelock construction, so sometimes I’ll be woken up by what sounds like a plane in the morning.”
Other first-year students, however, have found the renovations to be less of a concern. While he acknowledged that other students have expressed irritation, Andrew Lee ’28 said the changes have “not been a huge problem” for him.
“I know a lot of people are frustrated with the amount of [it], but I think it’s a positive thing that Dartmouth is putting resources into making the campus a better place,” he said.
For some, the changes are affecting how freshmen experience Dartmouth’s social environment. The temporary closure of the Fayerweather Halls — a trio of freshmen-only residence halls which housed approximately 200 students and functioned as a social hub for the cohort — for instance, has created a nightlife vacuum, according to Mendoza. The reputation of the Fayerweathers — known among older students as a traditional meeting place for first-year students — seems like “an illusion” to freshmen, she added.
While students have experimented socializing in alternative spaces, such as the freshmen-only residence halls in the Choate Cluster, none have won out, Mendoza explained.
“[Freshmen] are going to different dorm basements — Choates, Russel Sage — or hanging out outside,” Mendoza said. “People have tried it all, and they all just never get anywhere.”
Allie Hughes ’28 agreed, adding that finding a shared space for freshmen to hang out has been a challenge.
“It used to be the Russel Sage basement, but then [College] started locking the doors,” Hughes said. “So now, there’s not a big meeting place. There’s wandering — a lot of wandering.”
In addition to limiting nightlife options, construction on the Fayerweathers has also made it more challenging for some first-years to make friends with other students in their class. According to the Office of Residential Life website, renovations have spread South House first-years across campus, to Wheeler Hall, Richardson Hall and Topliff Hall, as well as the fourth floor of New Hampshire Hall.
Unlike the Fayerweathers, these new freshman spaces also include student residents from other grade levels, according to an email from the Office of Residential Life sent on April 10. While some students have criticized the combined-class living situation, some students, such as Topliff resident Nick Matanmi ’28, said they are “not too upset” about living with upperclassmen. At the same time, Matanmi noted that his residence hall lacks the same community seen in other first-year exclusive halls.
“I do feel like we do lack a sense of deep community like with the Choates,” he explained. “They call them ‘Choam.’ I feel like there’s no really ‘Tome.’”
First-year housing is not the only project underway. Among the more visible construction projects on campus are the renovation of Collis porch outside the Collis Center for Student Life, the development of a new residence hall on West Wheelock Street and the installation of new underground heating systems in front of New Hampshire Hall.
Many first-year students are eager for the Hopkins Center of the Arts to reopen after current expansions to the music and theater facilities are completed. Renovation and expansion began in winter of 2022 and the Center is expected to reopen in 2025.
“For me especially, I’m really excited for the Hopkins Center to finish renovations because I’m really interested in music,” Hughes said. “I’m super into acting so definitely having the Hop closed changes things because productions are much smaller now.”
While Hughes said it is difficult for her and other freshmen to fully evaluate the impact of closures — since they arrived on campus with construction already underway — she is excited to witness progress.
“I wasn’t here before there was construction, so I kind of don’t know what I’m missing out on,” she said. “So, it’s more like things will get better as more things are open.”
