And the lucky colleges who get to send their freshmen to newly renovated Vanderbilt Hall are — Berkeley and Branford. Sixty-two Berkeley juniors have been assigned to the space next year, meaning that Vanderbilt will no longer house Davenport freshmen.
Dean of Administrative Affairs John Meeske, who announced the housing plans for freshman and annexed upperclassmen Tuesday, said most colleges will keep their traditional freshman dorms. As usual, freshmen from 10 of the 12 colleges will live on Old Campus. This year, freshmen from only seven colleges lived on Old Campus because of renovations on Vanderbilt.
“We’re going back to the way we were last year,” Meeske said.
Annexed Piersonites will live in Swing Space, while Branford freshmen will return from Lawrance Hall back to Vanderbilt. Ezra Stiles freshmen will be placed in Lawrance, and Jonathan Edwards will continue to house its freshmen in Farnam Hall, Davenport College in Welch Hall, Saybrook and Pierson colleges in Lanman-Wright Hall, and Trumbull and Calhoun colleges in Bingham Hall. Timothy Dwight and Silliman freshmen will continue the tradition of living in their colleges. Morsels will reside in Durfee hall.
Annexed Jonathan Edwards, Morse and Trumbull upperclassmen will live in McClellan. While Davenport will be annexed to Park Street, Calhoun will have the only upperclassmen continuing to live in Durfee. Morsel juniors will be annexed to York Square Place. Saybrook is currently not assigned any annex housing.
Last year Saybrook initially had no annex housing, but students were later placed in annex suites on Old Campus once it became clear that more students were living on campus than could fit in Saybrook.
A few unassigned annex suites still remain in Farnam, Welch, and Lanman-Wright.
Freshman counselor to-be Dustin West ’04 said he had no idea what living in the renovated Vanderbilt would be like next year. West said Berkeley freshmen were split between McClellan and Vanderbilt his freshmen year, and he lived in McClellan.
Since West lives in Durfee this year, he will have spent three-fourths of his time at Yale on Old Campus come graduation.
“I like living with freshmen,” West said. “Old Campus is fun.”
When Branford and Berkeley freshmen move in next year, Vanderbilt will boast moats 4 to 5 feet below ground level in the courtyard’s old flowerbeds, a new and improved courtyard and interior finishes. In addition, there will be upgrades to heating, lighting, fire protection, power and information technology fittings. The renovations also include roof replacement and exterior masonry restoration.