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Renovation of Clawson and Hamilton Halls approved

By Bonnie Meibers, Senior Staff Writer

The plan to renovate both Clawson and Hamilton Halls was approved last Friday, Feb. 19 by the Miami University Board of Trustees.

The renovations are expected to finish by fall 2017, said David Creamer, senior vice president for finance and business services for Miami. However, these renovations will still leave Miami with a 300-bed deficit since an addition to Clawson, which would have added beds, was removed from the plan for lack of financial feasibility.

To fill that gap, Creamer said the Board of Trustees is having conversations about demolishing both Swing Hall and Withrow Court. If they move forward with that, the university will construct another residence hall in the buildings' place.

The approved renovations to Hamilton and Clawson will include improvements such as larger bedrooms, more privacy in the bathrooms and more outlets. HVAC systems, or central cooling and heating systems, will be installed in both residence halls. Accessibility improvements will also be made to both residence halls.

"We're basically replicating what we've done in other buildings," said Creamer, referring to the dozens of other campus residence halls that have been renovated in recent years.

Junior Stefanie Wong and sophomore Sierra Semko, who live in Clawson and Hamilton Halls, respectively, agree the residence halls need to be updated.

"Compared to the more recently renovated dorms on campus, Hamilton's furniture and interior are very outdated," Semko said. "Bugs would come into the building through the gaps in the window pretty frequently [during warmer weather]."

Another major component of this plan is to repurpose the vacated Hamilton Dining Hall. Hamilton Dining Hall was closed upon the opening of Maplestreet Station across the street in fall 2013, at which time Scott Dining Hall - also on Central Quad - closed as well.

The old dining hall will be turned into two additional sorority suites, increasing the number of sorority suites in Hamilton from two to four. This space will help the construction process to not be so disruptive when future buildings are taken "off-line" to be renovated.

The two extra sorority suites will accommodate the growing Panhellenic community, which added a new sorority last fall.

"We are simply trying to make sure that in the planning we're not ignoring that particular need," Creamer said.

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Because most of the buildings were built anywhere from the 1930s to the 1960s, the way the residence halls themselves have been used has changed since their construction.

"Expectations from students have changed," Creamer said. "The renovated halls will be much more amenable to the ways students use the spaces."

Even with the bed deficit, there should not be a recurrence of students being asked to move off campus to make room for the larger incoming class, which happened last year, with the fall 2015 freshman class.

Creamer does not expect any first-years or sophomores will be asked to reside off campus for fall 2016.

With the North Quad residence halls re-opening after being renovated for the past two years, Creamer said there should be enough room for all students who are required to live on campus, unless the incoming class is much larger than anticipated.

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