College in Early Stages of Plans for New Residence Hall Across from Jaeger Center
The new residence hall would be on Lincoln Avenue across the street from the Jaeger Center in the current space of the Musselman Parking Lot (File photo)
By Benjamin Pontz, Editor-in-Chief
Gettysburg College officials are in the early stages of planning a new residence hall that would allow the college flexibility to renovate existing first-year halls that President Janet Morgan Riggs said at a March faculty meeting “are becoming a liability in terms of attracting students.”
At that meeting, Riggs framed the issue as an “emerging priority” in which the Board of Trustees has taken interest. While the Board has not yet authorized new construction, the college is making plans for a new building that would most likely be on Lincoln Avenue across the street from the Jaeger Center in the current location of the Musselman Parking Lot.
College spokesperson Jamie Yates said that the Board has authorized “infrastructure relocation and improvements that would facilitate future construction of a residence hall” and “preliminary planning that would position us to seek authorization to proceed.”
“While work on the infrastructure improvements will begin this summer,” Yates added, “visually students will not see much change over the next 12 months.”
At a town hall meeting for college employees on Mar. 24, Riggs explained that the addition of a residence hall would allow the college to temporarily move students out of existing first-year residence halls to the new one while the existing ones are renovated. Upon completing renovations in one building, students would move back in, and another group of students would move into the new building. Ultimately, the addition of the hall will allow the college to reduce density in halls that, she said, are currently overcrowded.
Dan Konstalid, Vice President of Finance and Administration, said that the college is aware that placing a residence hall in the current location of a parking lot would complicate an already challenging parking situation for students.
“We are looking at options to replace that parking somewhere,” he said.
