Though unforeseen construction delays have inconvenienced many of the students in the new McLaughlin and Tuck Mall residence clusters, many students say new luxuries more than outweigh any annoyance caused by the ongoing construction.
"There may be construction, but at the end of the day we realize how great things are here," McLane undergraduate advisor Brent Drummond '09 said. "It's been amazing, I sincerely doubt you can find someone who will say it hasn't been worth it."
The major construction projects were originally supposed to be completed by September.
"Overall, we're all really pleased that we got students in before classes started, and that the rooms and the bathrooms are done," Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said.
The Office of Residential Life is now racing to complete construction before winter begins. Redman estimates that all construction will be completed in December.
"This march will be two years, we were shooting for 18 months, but we're hitting somewhere between 19 and 20," Redman said.
The sidewalks in front of the McLaughlin cluster and the roadway that runs behind them are all construction priorities. The construction delays occurred due to unforeseen circumstances, according to Redman.
"There was no major accident, no construction delay because of any error," Redman said. "We had a really wet summer which slowed up the interior work because a lot of the material could not dry on time."
Residents said they were still surprised when they arrived on campus to find unfinished dorms.
"Early in the year, they would be working in the morning, and that could wake you up," Thomas Leddy-Cecere '10 said. "In the beginning it was a little inconvenient, but it hasn't been that big a deal."
Bathrooms in the new residence halls have small, individual rooms for toilets that give residents more privacy than the stalls in most other residence halls do.
"Bathrooms are nicer than many other dorms because you can lock the door when you go in. Each is its own private unit," McLaughlin resident Alexander Bruccoleri '07 said.
While many students seem to appreciate the new buildings' amenities, they say the luxuries have made the practical problems seem more absurd.
"We have brass fountains and grand pianos, but we also have doors that don't work," Drummond said.
Redman emphasized that the buildings are more or less on schedule from original plans.
"Quite honestly, they're both about on schedule, the McLaughlin started later than we would've liked," he said. "We would certainly like to be done by now, but they are fairly complex buildings."
McLane hall's common area is equipped with a Steinway grand piano, new couches and windows that allow the sun to flood in during the daytime.
"When I walk into my dorm, I feel like I'm walking into a hotel lobby," McLane resident Deirdre Sutula '10 said.
