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The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

University plans broad dorm changes

Correction appended

GW Housing programs announced broad changes to residence hall assignments for the upcoming year, highlighted by new residence halls, more spacious living and higher room prices.

Quads in Thurston Hall are slated to be converted into triples for next year, and triples in City Hall will become doubles. Potomac House, formerly a sophomore residence hall, will now be reserved for freshmen. Many of the changes are made possible by the yet-to-be-named 2135 F Street building, which will house seniors, and the scheduled fall 2010 completion of the expanded Pelham Hall on the Mount Vernon Campus.

The accommodations may be more comfortable, but they come at a price.

Under this year’s rates, a triple in Thurston costs $2,000 more per year than a quad and a double in City Hall costs over $1,000 more than a triple. Since freshmen and sophomores are required to live on campus, the potential price increase may be an added burden to underclassmen.

Next year’s housing rates will be decided at this week’s Board of Trustees meeting.

“We made the changes based on feedback from students,” said Seth Weinshel, director of GW Housing. “We are attempting to make it so that students do not need to bunk their beds in order to live in on-campus housing.”

When sharing a home with more than 1,000 other students, space is of the essence. Thurston residents say the change is needed.

Jade Rosenberg and Rachel Cohen unbunked their Thurston quad beds, but said the arrangements are difficult to live in.

“We have little to no space,” Rosenberg said. “We walk through a tiny aisle to get through our room. If you leave the beds bunked there is more space, but nobody wants to be in a bunk bed.”

Potomac Hall was originally exclusively for freshmen when it opened in fall 2006, but was changed into a sophomore residence hall the following year.

“Potomac just shouldn’t be a sophomore dorm,” said Jackie Bianchini, a junior. “They don’t have kitchens. By sophomore year it’s time to stop picking up dinner from 7-Eleven.”

A long-term result of the changes is that more students will be placed on the Mount Vernon Campus. Pelham Hall will reopen in fall 2010 with about 200 extra beds. The floor plan includes apartment-style rooms and a dining facility inside the building.

Despite the Thurston downsizing, Pelham will not exclusively house first-year students.

“When Pelham re-opens there is the possibility of more freshmen on the campus but we plan on trying to fill the building with both freshmen and returning students,” Weinshel said.

The residence hall at 2135 F Street will hold more than 450 seniors. But the building’s first residents, who have already committed to living there, will not be able to see their rooms until move-in and will not know the cost for another week.

Though some residences will hold fewer people, GW Housing does not anticipate a shortage of rooms.

Weinshel said, “As for there being enough space, with the addition of the new building, everyone who wants housing and is required to live on campus will receive an assignment.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: (February 9, 2009)

The Hatchet reported that Pelhman Hall is opening “next year,” in line with other housing changes. Pelham Hall is opening in fall 2010, not in the upcoming 2009-2010 academic year. Similarly, a fact box in the print edition incorrectly grouped Pelham Hall with the fall 2009 housing changes.

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