Meanwhile other buildings, like the new dining hall that will replace Thayer by 2010, are still in the design stage.
With the academic year drawing to a close, only one term remains to ready the new Tuck Mall and the McLaughlin residence clusters for residence in the Fall, and according to Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman, construction is proceeding on schedule.
"The goal has been to have [the dorms] ready for Fall term and they should be ready," he said.
The addition of new dorms led to greater-than-expected interest in on-campus housing at the most recent room draw. Seniors and juniors participated this year in record numbers, leaving many rising sophomores on a waitlist even though the entire class was guaranteed housing.
Despite the unexpectedly high number of students who participated in room draw, College President James Wright told The Dartmouth that he is confident that all sophomores will receive housing.
"I've been told that over the course of the summer everyone will have their rooms," he said.
The campus is looking forward to the addition of the more modern housing, which will be celebrated with some fanfare, Wright added.
"There will be a dedication activity during Convocation," he said. "We will celebrate the new year and the new dorms."
Kemeny Hall, which will house the mathematics department, and the Haldeman Center, which will be the new home of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Fannie and Alan Leslie Center for the Humanities and the Ethics Institute, should be completed around September, according to the College's Capital Project Summary from the Office of Planning, Design & Construction.
The Kemeny and Haldeman bulidings will cost over $24 million in total and will be situated just north of Baker-Berry library. Some offices that are currently in Bradley and Gerry halls will be moved to this complex when those buildings are torn down.
The new dining hall, to be called the Class of 1953 Dining Commons, will be located near the McLaughlin Cluster residence halls and is still in the design phase of development. According to the Office of Planning, Design & Construction's website, technical review of the project should begin in early 2007 with construction scheduled to start in the summer of 2008.
Still, students have been most concerned with the unexpected housing complications that arose from the new dormitories' popularity among upperclassmen.
"We were told that we'd be guaranteed housing, so I thought it wouldn't be a problem. Then when I showed up for room draw and found all the singles were already gone, I was pretty upset," Matthew Wean '09 said. "It was a mess, and they should have seen it coming."
While ORL did expect more upperclassmen than usual to participate, the level of interest caught the office off guard, Redman said.
"Based on our past seven years of records on how many members of each class chose to live on campus, approximately 200 more seniors and 100 more juniors decided to participate in room draw," Redman said. "We had only expected about 125 more seniors and juniors."
Redman attributes the increased participation to the quality of the new dorms, as well as the increased number of singles and suites that will become available.
"I think many [students] were surprised at how many good options were available," Redman said.
There is some concern on campus that ORL will be unable to fulfill its promise of guaranteed housing for sophomores next year, but Redman believes some juniors and seniors will not occupy the rooms they drew.
"We have also heard that some students are hedging their bets. They intend to live off campus but are holding a room in case they do not find anything they like or can afford off-campus," he said.
The new housing will be closer to campus than the infamous river cluster, and will have high-tech features like automated lighting and heating systems. Older dorms, such as the Treehouses and the Lodge will be torn down, with the River cluster dorms scheduled to follow suit.
"I'll be glad when they tear them down and other people with terrible housing numbers aren't stuck living closer to Vermont than to The Hop," said Charlie Volanakis '08, a current Treehouse resident.
But some rising sophomores remain cautious about their chances for housing next year.
"I'll reserve a judgment on [ORL's] promise until the waitlist situation is resolved over the summer," Greg Boguslavsky '09 said.
