North and South will be closed down for renovation beginning June 1. The two freshman dorms will be closed for the entirety of the next academic year. Neither building will be torn down; instead, the exterior walls will remain while the interiors are remodeled.
Pratt Dormitory will accommodate the displaced incoming freshmen.
"They're starting to plan for next year's housing situation, since North and South are being renovated and won't be used," said Dean of Students Ben Lieber.
"The sophomores displaced from [Pratt] will go into Williston and rooms that are now vacant all over campus," said Lieber.
Williston, which has been under construction throughout this academic year, will open up in Aug. 2003.
Williston Hall, which along with North, South, Johnson Chapel and Appleton Hall, makes up the historical College Row has been transformed from a classroom building to a residence hall. The plan to reconstruct Williston included re-installing the interior of the building and adding new framework.
"We are slightly ahead of schedule with Williston and we don't anticipate any problems with opening it over the summer," said Director of Facilities Planning and Management Jim Brassord.
Despite its location on the Freshman Quad, the dormitory is expected to primarily house sophomores because the room draw process is class-weighted, according to Lieber.
Pratt will become a freshman dormitory next year because of the greater number of rooms available within there. "[Housing freshmen in Pratt is] an ad hoc arrangement," said Lieber. It will be used to its maximum capacity to replace both North and South Colleges.
The Waldorf-Astoria and The Plaza, the temporary modular housing that began housing students this year, will continue to serve as additional sophomore housing.
Current freshmen have mixed feelings about Williston becoming a sophomore dorm. "I would like to live on the Freshman Quad because it's so close to everything, particularly the library," said Brittney Santos '06. "I can't wait for the construction to be over, because it's so obnoxious, especially the honking of the truck at 5:30 in the morning."
However, other freshmen are uncertain about whether or not they will enjoy their possible sophomore living arrangements. "Williston looks like it will be a good dorm but it must be smaller than Pratt," said Al-Karim Moloo '06. "And they're one room doubles, so it looks like it's a bad trade-off."
It is unclear where the Health and Wellness quarter, currently occupying a portion of Pratt, will be located next year. One possibility is Morrow Dormitory, which is partially substance-free now.
The freshman dormitories and Williston are not the only ones currently under renovation. "This spring they'll start building two new dorms where Milliken used to be. They'll probably take about a year," said Lieber. "[By the fall of 2004] when they tear down James and Stearns, freshmen will most likely go into Pratt and Morrow," said Lieber. By that time administrators hope that the two new dormitories will be ready to house upperclassmen.
In addition to the residential changes, infrastructure work that began last summer will continue this summer.