As UO enters the 2023-2024 academic year, there are new advancements to campus that incoming freshmen and current students will experience, including the New Residence Hall and New Apartment-Style Residence Hall.
The New Residence Hall and the New Apartment Style Residence Hall will be available for residents in the fall and are part of phase two of the Hamilton Walton Transformation Project.
Phase one included the demolition of Walton Hall and the creation of Unthank Hall. Phase two includes the New Residence Hall and the New Apartment-Style Residence Hall. The New Residence Hall will be a traditional freshman dormitory, while the New Apartment Style Residence Hall will contain apartment-style residences designated for upperclassmen.
According to Director for University Housing Michael Griffel, the New Residence Hall has many amenities that the other dormitories at UO do not have.
“We have a new faculty member who is living in the building and new academic residential communities including the Clark Honors College, which has moved from Global Scholars and Justice Bean,” Griffel said. “Performing Arts has a new ARC in the building with a special floor designated for people who dance and has really nice spring action.”
Additional amenities in the New Residence Hall include faculty offices and spaces, multipurpose spaces, music practice rooms and a new service center that will provide mail and package services for people in that section of campus, according to Griffel.
Bryson Beck, the interim assistant director of residence life for occupancy and systems, said the service center will be different from all other service centers on campus.
“The new building has a package locker system that we’re really excited about, especially our Housing Service Center team,” Beck said. “They’ll use an app and get a message that they have a package, scan their phone at the kiosk and it’ll pop the door open to grab their package.”
According to Griffel, the New Residence Hall and Unthank Hall have very similar structures and amenities, as they are both part of the same Hamilton Walton Transformation Project.
“The new transformation project buildings were designed as one section of campus that are replacing Hamilton Hall and Walton Hall,” Griffel said. “They are intended to all fit together to enhance that section of campus, but they are nearly identical to each other as far as bedrooms go.”
The main differences between Unthank Hall and the New Residence Hall are that Unthank Hall has a dining space and the Student Welcome Center, while the New Residence Hall has the service center and the package pickup.
The rates for rooms in the New Residence Hall show increased prices for rooms with fewer amenities than rooms in other halls.
The lowest rate for a room in the New Residence Hall is a triple with a bath with a yearly rate of $13,059 per person.
This price is equivalent to a triple in Living Learning Center and a triple with a bath in Unthank Hall. It is $1,615 more expensive than the price of a triple with a sink in Carson Hall and $1,434 more expensive than a double in Hamilton Hall.
With this rate of $13,059 in the New Residence Hall, the quality-of-life comparison with the more inexpensive Carson Hall and Hamilton Hall is different. In the New Residence Hall, these students would have the amenity of their own full bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink.
In Hamilton Hall, the bathrooms are shared on the floor, and in Carson Hall, the rooms come with a sink, but not a full bathroom.
The second lowest rate in the New Residence Hall is for a large triple with bath at $14,087 and is equivalent to a large triple with bath in Unthank Hall.
Since the New Residence Hall and Unthank Hall are part of the same Hamilton Walton Transformation Project, they are set to be almost identical builds, according to Griffel. Therefore, the prices are pretty much equivalent for most of the rooms.
The most expensive rate in the New Residence Hall for a large double with bath is $17,170 and is the highest price for any type of double in UO residence halls, excluding two-person suites in Living Learning Center and Global Scholars Hall.
The living amenities for a large double with bath in the New Residence Hall includes an increased living space size to normal doubles and a full bathroom. Most doubles with baths have standard living space sizes, but the most expensive rate in the New Residence Hall comes with extra space and a bathroom.
This rate is more expensive than a two-person suite with a bath in Riley Hall at $16,750, and doubles with baths in Barnhart Hall and Global Scholars Hall at $16,020.
According to Griffel and Beck, many prices of the available rooms in the New Residence Hall are equivalent to rooms in Unthank Hall. The more expensive rates reflect the new detail, amenities and work that have been put into the construction and model of the new building.
Madeline Anderson, an incoming junior and the director of PR and marketing for the Delta Delta Delta sorority, has worked closely with her team of incoming seniors and has spoken with them about how they feel with the new amenities and services the classes below them have that they did not.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to has been a little disappointed that the students after them got better amenities in their freshmen years, such as Unthank [Hall],” Anderson said. “I get it, a new dorm building and new dining hall the year after you leave the dorms feels like a missed opportunity, especially with Unthank’s huge popularity.”
Another factor the class of 2024 had to endure was the effects of COVID-19 on campus and the limited availability of activities at UO.
“It was a tough time for everyone,” Anderson said. “Especially the seniors who didn’t really have much to do at all.”
According to Griffel, UO has been on a path of continuous growth and tries its best to stay in touch with the students’ needs.
“The class of 2024 clearly had all the issues of the pandemic, but prior to the pandemic, the services, programs, care, support and facilities were geared towards meeting their needs,” Griffel said. “Now with the class of 2027, we have that continued progressive growth and enhancement of programs and services.”
Although UO is updating buildings and residence halls on campus for incoming freshmen, Griffel said, it is also updating programs and services continuously for all students and is constantly adapting to fit the needs and wants of all students on campus.
“Coming to your first year in college during quarantine was a hard time for the class of 2024,” Anderson said. “But that was what they started out with. When their second year came around it became hard to adjust to a real, in-person school environment that I don’t think administrators took into consideration as well as they could have.”
According to Beck, UO is a campus that is continually evolving for generations to come, and although incoming seniors and past students see these changes for incoming students, he feels it should be exciting to see their campus continuously changing and advancing.
“It is amazing just to see how much the campus has changed since I moved here and how much the university is pushing for,” Beck said. “Evolving and advancing to serve the students that are on campus for housing and with academic programs is an exciting sight to watch, and it should be exciting for all students and faculty, too.”
The New Apartment-Style Residence Hall is located in the center of campus. There are studio apartments and four-bedroom apartments. The apartment-style units give returning students more freedom but allow for more support from campus staff. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
