News for Admitted Students
Installment 9
Installment 10
Installment 11
Campus Tour Part III: The Dormitories
Freshmen will be assigned rooms this fall in three of the eight dormitories: Humphreys Hall, Randall Hall, and Campbell Hall.
Humphreys Hall (1837)
Humphreys Hall (1837)
For decades McDowell Hall was the only campus building. When Humphreys was built, it was known as “the boarding house,” the first dormitory. (It was named for Hector Humphreys shortly after his death in 1857.) It was also home to the library collection from 1837 to 1900. During the Civil War, Humphreys was used as a military hospital and morgue. In 1932 the science laboratories moved in, and it became traditional to cite the “Humphreys Factor” when experimental results didn’t meet expectations. In 1958, when the new labs were opened in Mellon Hall, Humphreys was reclaimed as dormitory space.
The bookstore has been in the basement since the late fifties as well—before that it was located in the fireplace room (officially called the Junior Common Room) of the coffee shop. The newly available basement was, in 1958, a warren of rooms. The round-headed arches now framing the shelves of program books had been plastered over many years earlier, and no one at the college knew of their existence until the basement was reconfigured.
Also in the basement of Humphreys you’ll find the Pool Room, home to a single dilapidated but much-loved pool table.
Paca Carroll House (1857)
Paca Carroll House (1857)
Paca Carroll, Chase Stone, and Pinkney were all part of a mid-century building boom at the college. Paca Carroll was built as a duplex for faculty housing, then became a fraternity house in 1929, converting to a regular dormitory in 1938.
A 1981 addition more than doubled the size of the building, and brought much-desired renovations.
Upperclassmen choose dorm rooms in the room lottery in the spring, with one exception: Paca Carroll has a large suite-like loft, and groups of four or five students (of the same sex) apply for the privilege of living there. Those students who band together to apply knock themselves out in their creative efforts to persuade Ms. Paalman (the Assistant Dean) and Ms. Waters (the Director of Student Services, and the Czarina of Housing) that their groups excel in worthinesss.
Paca Carroll is usually referred to simply as Paca. How you say it is a matter of both contention and taste. The correct historic pronunciation is PAY-cuh, but the more common pronunciation on campus is PACK-uh. It is also a matter of dispute whether Paca Carroll and Chase Stone are hypenated: Paca-Carroll and Chase-Stone. You’ll see it both ways. Apparently we’re not sure which is correct.
Chase Stone House (1857)
Chase Stone House (1857)
Chase Stone also began life as a duplex, built as a home for the president and vice-president of the college. Like Paca Carroll, it too became a fraternity house, and then a dormitory.
Chase Stone is probably the most popular of the older dorms. Croquet players especially enjoy rooms on the first floor, because they can get to the front lawn of the campus, where croquet is played, simply by stepping out of their windows.
The basement of Chase Stone has, along with a laundry room, a popular common room, known as the Chasement, where you’ll find, in addition to cozy gatherings, the croquet sets.
Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, William Paca, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton were the four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence, and were among the founders of the college. Chase Stone and Paca Carroll were named for them in 1938, when Stringfellow Barr, the new president of the college and one of the founders of the academic program, ended the practice of letting fraternities have the houses rent-free, effectively eliminating fraternities on campus. The Greek letters came down, and égalité replaced fraternité.
Pinkney Hall (1858)
Pinkney Hall (1858)
Pinkney was completed before the Civil War broke out, but wasn’t occupied until after the war was over, and the college was able to reopen with an increased enrollment. It was built to balance Humphreys Hall on the opposite side of McDowell, and, like Humphreys, originally had a turreted roof.
In the middle twentieth century, a wall was built down the middle of the building, dividing it into East Pinkney (on the front campus side) and West Pinkney. A student living on the fourth floor of East Pinkney wishing to visit a student on the fourth floor of West Pinkney would theoretically have to go down the stairs to the first floor, walk down a hall, and climb up again to the fourth floor. In practice, the fire escapes on the back side of the building met the need. They were conveniently placed outside the bathrooms: a student on fourth floor East would go into the bathroom, out the window onto the fire escape, and into the window of the bathroom on fourth floor West. Discretion was required, as the corresponding floors, and bathrooms, were often the realms of opposite genders.
In the 1992 renovation of Pinkney, the dividing wall was taken down. Socializing became considerably more straightforward.
Pinkney was named for William Pinkney, the only identified student of King William’s School. Single and split double dorm rooms take up the second, third, and fourth floors; the ground floor houses the Financial Aid Office, the Career Services Office, the Facilities Office, the Personnel Office, and the office of the Director of Public Safety.
Randall Hall (1903)
Randall Hall (1903)
Randall Hall was called Senior Hall early in its history: living there was something to be aspired to. Now it’s almost exclusively the territory of freshmen, who live in doubles on the second and third floors. The first floor houses the Dining Hall and a Private Dining Room used for meetings and events.
A somewhat ungainly addition on the back of Randall in 1980 made variety in meals possible. Before its advent, both the kitchen (down in the basement) and the serving area were considerably smaller—the entire serving area was in the room now dedicated to serving beverages. To eat or not to eat was the only question, because if you ate, you ate the one thing that had been prepared for that meal. Students necessarily kvetch about the food, this being one of the rights and privileges of student life, but at least with the Randall addition you can choose what you complain about This fall we’ll be getting to know a new food service provider, Bon Appetit.
Sharing the basement with the kitchen are the Treasurer’s Office, the Business Offices, and the Informational Technology Services Office. The lack of an administration building is one of the hallmarks of the campus. A campus master plan drawn in the 1950s shows an enormous administration building about where the McKeldin Planetarium is now, blocking the entire view of College Creek from front campus. Fortunately we were spared, there being no funding whatsoever for the proposed travesty, and the college staff enjoys being scattered among dorms, classroom buildings, and historic houses. It is their fond belief that their failure to cluster physically has led to a less monolithic appearance to the students.
Campbell Hall (1954)
Campbell Hall (1954)
When women were first admitted to the college in 1951, Randall Hall became the dormitory for women, housing the first brave twenty-four. Later, as their numbers grew, women were also given the Chase half of Chase Stone. Campbell Hall was finally built as the women’s dormitory, and it remained a women’s dormitory until the dorms slowly began to go coed in the 1970s. For many years it was the only dorm with air conditioning. It is the largest dorm, with room for about 70 students (and up to eighteen visiting prospective students) on four floors. The first, second, and third floors have conventional single and double rooms; in the basement, there is a handful of single rooms originally built as guest rooms. Also in the basement are the Baldwin Room (a common room), a kitchen, a laundry room, and one of the Senior Resident apartments. The college telephone switchboard is to your right as you enter through the front door.
Gilliam Hall (2004)
Gilliam Hall (2004)
Gilliam Hall was dedicated fifty years after its most recent predecessor, Campbell Hall. During those fifty years the college got along just fine with six dorms (seven, including the Chancellor Johnson House’s stint), but by the mid-1990s rampant gentrification in the historic district had brought about a shortage of affordable apartments within walking distance, and fewer students found themselves preferring to live off-campus. At the same time the undergraduate enrollment was gradually increasing, from about 400 in 1995 to about 450 today, a result of somewhat larger freshman enrollment coupled with a decrease in attrition. The ensuing housing crisis drove the college to plan for more dormitory space.
Gilliam is significantly less picturesquely historic than the older dorms, but makes up for that lack with modern conveniences, like elevators. Students also rejoice in nearly soundproof walls.
Gilliam is named for James H. Gilliam Jr., a trustee of the Hodson Trust, which has generously supported a number of projects for the college.
Spector Hall (2006)
Spector Hall (2006)
Spector Hall is a lot like Gilliam, with the added attraction of a spiffy media room. It is named for Philip Spector, the father of Warren Spector A’81, whose gift made the construction of the dorm possible. (Philip Spector should not be confused with the rock impresario Phil Spector.)
The location of Gilliam and Spector was debated at some length—there was concern that building dorms so far away from the cozy cluster of campus buildings around the quad would isolate the inhabitants. It’s true that Gilliamites and Spectorians have as much as a five minute walk to class, as opposed to the under-two-minute commute of other dormitory residents, but somehow they remain integrated into the community.
FAQ
Swing dancing in the Great Hall
Q: What happens at waltz parties—waltzing?
A: Yes and no. Social dancing has had a long history at the college. A key moment came during a waltz party in 1984, when the pianist took a break and Dan Schoos A’86 (AKA Dancin’ Schoos) threw a Sinatra record on a turntable and, with an able group of co-conspirators, introduced swing dancing to the amazed crowd. Since then Saturday night dances in the Great Hall have still been called waltz parties, and the group in charge of them is still called the Waltz Committee, and the waltz itself has not been utterly abandoned, but swing dancing, in its several modes, usually dominates, especially in the fall and spring, the waltz having been defined, apparently, as a wintry form.
The Waltz Committee offers lessons in swing, waltz, tango, and other ballroom dances, and waltz parties generally feature the form currently being taught.