Sign outside of Stine Hall. (Photo William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By Madilyn Cataloni, Staff Writer
During my first-year orientation, I came to find out that my dorm building, Paul Hall, was going to be switched to a new building. To be honest, I was excited at first. I selfishly loved the idea that I would be in the newest dorm on campus. Obviously, all college dorms have their cons, but Paul Hall had many of them. From no community kitchen to outdated furniture, there was a lot of room for improvement. So, I was pretty happy about the move until I began thinking about the logistics.
The first official notice given to the residents of Paul Hall was emailed on Monday, Sept. 8. The email explained the new amenities we would be receiving in the new dorm, things like new furniture in bedrooms, lounges and study rooms, as well as new laundry rooms and laundry equipment. There is also to be a new patio and outdoor space. The Paul residents were excited about this new information and bragging to all the other halls about the upgrades.
While this sounds lovely, I have started getting used to my living space. I had accepted that the furniture in my room is nowhere near as nice as the furniture in Patrick. My eyes had already adjusted to the lounges in Paul and the ugly, stained blue couches which look like they came straight out of the 80s. If I’m honest, the only excitement that I feel is the possibility of a bigger room, which is not included in the renovations.
It took me at least two days to fully get comfortable in my dorm, set my pictures on the wall, hang my fairy lights and figure out what storage can fit where. Now, I Having to do this process again in the middle of January, with no measurements of the new room or details about the supposed furniture. I’m at the point where I’m questioning if all my things will fit into this new room. Will the layout be the same? Will the walls still be the brick that doesn’t hold my command strips?
While Gettysburg is trying to make the move easier for residents by hiring professional movers to move our stuff over winter break, we are still expected to pack everything up into boxes. The residents were also advised in a new email to take any breakable items with them as they depart for winter break. While I am fortunate to have my car that I will be traveling in, what is expected of the students who must take the plane? Where would they put their breakable things and the stuff they don’t want movers to touch?
Furthermore, packing up everything you own during finals season will not be easy. All of your clothes now need to be sorted into boxes. Anything you have up on the walls needs to come down. All of the drawers need to be emptied, and all the boxes and storage need to be labeled. You must do all of this while maintaining your grades and studying for exams or papers.
As I reflect on my feelings about this move, the thing I am most disappointed in is that the residents of Paul were never given a choice. We weren’t asked if we would be interested in moving to a new hallway through our freshman year. We weren’t even made aware of this when we received our housing assignments. The idea of having to move and redecorate a whole new room that I have no information or photos of is overwhelming. Many people can advertise how great it will be living in a newer hall, but they aren’t the ones dealing with the burden of moving.
This article originally appeared on page 14 of the November 2025 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
