Residents of Graham Hall bid the residential hall farewell with kisses and stories of fond memories of the dormitory.
Residential Life sponsored the good-bye ceremony where students wrote memories on kiss-shaped papers and taped them on a wall that said “Kiss Graham Goodbye.”
“It’s kind of interesting [living in Graham],” said Robert Johnson, an electrical engineering freshman. “There is a wide variety of people who live here.”
Nicole Yazbeck, a business freshman, also reminisced about her experiences living in Graham.
“I have a bunch of friends from high school on the second floor, so the whole floor was always a party,” Yazbeck said.
North Graham was built in 1952, and South Graham was built in 1964. The Graham residential hall complex consists of two sections, North and South Graham, said Tiffany Netters, communication coordinator of Residential Life. Workers will demolish South Graham in July and North Graham in fall 2004.
A new building facility made up of four new residential colleges will replace Graham in 2006 in the area where North and South Graham now stand. The building complex will be named the Graham Complex.
Shaquana Anderson, residential life coordinator for Graham, said Graham will be torn down to meet students’ needs.
Anderson said that the buildings are being torn down because conditions in the buildings were not up to standard, but some Graham residents are reluctant to see the dorms demolished.
“The dorm’s not supposed to be a hotel,” said Morgan Landry, a nursing freshman. “There’s nothing wrong with my room.”
Johnson said that Graham’s rooms are small and not in the best shape, but no dorm rooms are in great condition.
“They don’t need to tear down Graham. It’s not the best dorm, but it’s in a great location and the people are great,” Yazbeck said. “I don’t like the fact that they’re tearing [Graham] down like it’s not anything.”
The new facilities are being built especially for incoming freshmen, Netters said. The buildings will house 750 beds and will have private bathrooms.
The Graham renovations are part of the second phase of the University’s Master Plan to renovate campus buildings, Anderson said. Graham is the only building complex that will be totally knocked down and renovated. State and private donors will fund the new buildings.
“Every year they take a building to renovate, but Graham is the only building that will be torn down,” Anderson said. “The new buildings will be built in the Italian architecture style similar to other buildings on campus.”