The wait is finally over for East Campus residents. Students started moving last week to Federal and Congressional Halls, two of the three new dormitories on the campus.
“My expectation was of Housing and Dining was that they were going to help us every single step of the way to make it as easy for us, and it was very, very smooth,” said Kelsey O’Connor, an SIS sophomore and new Federal Hall resident. “In my personal experience, there [were] no problems at all. They were very easy to work with. They made the whole process of moving to East Campus seem very straightforward, and they communicated a lot of information to us about what it was going to be like.”
The University intended to open East Campus for move-in in August 2016. However, the move-in date was then delayed until January 2017. Students lived temporarily in residence halls on the Main Campus during the fall 2016 semester while East Campus construction was completed.
Megan Kerr, a sophomore in SOC that moved into Congressional Hall on Jan. 8, said that she was not happy with the delayed opening date for the halls.
“When I was informed about the delay I was annoyed,” said Kerr via email. “Even though we were [financially] compensated for the delay, the amount isn't equivalent to how much we paid for housing. When I heard that we would be moving in right before classes I was especially annoyed. Packing during finals week was stressful. It was hard to maintain the balance between studying and packing.”
Kerr said though that she did not have any issues while moving into Congressional Hall.
East Campus project manager Christina Colasanto said that Housing and Dining Programs offered support and specific services for students moving onto East Campus this week.
“We offered as much as we could, to be as helpful as we could,” Colasanto said. “We created a pretty extensive move-in guide so that [the students] have a sense of all the different options that were available to them.”
Colasanto said that HDP partnered with a professional moving company to help students move their belongings from their temporary housing to their new dorms on East Campus. HDP provided students with four moving boxes, tape and labels, as well as instructions on how to properly pack and label their belongings for the moving company. The company then moved the boxes to East Campus over winter break so that students would be able to unpack and settle in when they returned in January. Colasanto also said that HDP tried to make the transition easier by assigning East Campus students to floors in dorms on the Main Campus that were filled with their future floormates in order to foster a community early on.
Colasanto said that Housing and Dining Programs’ expectations for the day were met since it went smoothly.
“We really think that move-in has been going well so far, at least from what I’ve heard,” Colasanto said. “I think that students are really excited and are happy to be able to unpack and have some extra time before classes begin.”
Colasanto said that the third residence hall, Constitution Hall, will open depending on student interest. HDP originally slated Constitution Hall to open in February 2017, as The Eagle previously reported in August 2016 -- one month after the move-in date for the other two residential halls, Federal and Congressional.
According to AU’s website, Federal, Congressional and Constitution Halls, the three East Campus dorms, are meant to house 590 sophomores in double rooms, each with a private bathroom. Each floor in the halls has a lounge that includes furniture, a TV and a kitchen.
emartin@theeagleonline.com
