By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
For over 55 years, Gulick Hall was one of the most recognizable buildings on campus.
Known for its unique layout and tight hallways, Gulick was a place where many first-year students resided as many made core memories. Now, what was once the largest first-year residence hall on campus now sits in a heap of debris.
Starting Monday, Sept. 29around 8 a.m., many walking by the building saw the old residence hall being torn down, brick by brick. The college announced last year that following the conclusion of the 2024-25 school year, Gulick would be closing permanently due to over 20 million dollars in deferred maintenance. When the final chiller which helped provide air conditioning to the building gave out, this plus growing concerns from the students about the building forced the Board of Trustees to wave the white flag and vote unanimously to take the building offline.
Even though the school knew this was the right decision, the nostalgia about “Gu” is still present.
“I am so used to walking by Gulick, going inside Gulick and greeting families and students every fall,” said the Vice President for Campus Life and Community Engagement, Slandie Dieujuste. “When you’ve been around something for so long, there’s an attachment to it. Even though that building has given us our share or problems. But I am so excited about what’s ahead. If you think about bringing in a new residence hall for students and what that would mean for the student experience, I can’t help but be excited about that.”
The decision to close Gulick was not something that happened overnight either, as the decision to finally close the building was about three years in the making. Similar to the decision to close Gulick, the prep to get the building ready to be torn down was also a lengthy one.
The college started by taking everything out of the building that needed to leave first. This included all of the bed frames, shower curtains, couches, and other things of that nature. The electricity and the plumbing also had to be taken care of, and all of the windows were removed from the building.
Once the demolition of Gulick started, the first section to be torn down was the east wing of the building closest to the parking lot. After this, they quickly started to work on tearing down the entrance way and the back of the building near the basketball court.
By the end of the day on Friday, where Gulick Hall once sat is now massive piles of bricks, cinderblocks, pipes, flooring and everything else that kept the building standing. Last week was the first week of a roughly 10-week project to tear the entire building down and get the area cleared out, which is set to be finished on Dec. 1.
The process of tearing Gulick to the ground slowly but surely over time is crucial to the safety of the campus community, as sending a wrecking ball through the building could cause harm to other people and other buildings.
“It’s an old building and it’s situated in the middle of other buildings, ” Dieujuste said. “You have to think about when you bring a wrecking ball what that means for debris. So it’s not necessarily the safest thing to have things flying in the air [while] students are walking to class or living right next door to Gulick. So this is the safest way to take care of it.”
In terms of what the school will do to replace Gulick, that is still to be determined. Once Gulick is completely torn down, the college wants to use the area as a green space for students to hangout and enjoy the outdoors. There is a chance they use the area where Gulick once sat to build a new residence hall but it won’t be for another several years as nothing has been decided upon.
“I think for me, it would be nice to see some kind of project happen within the next three to five years,” said Director of Housing and Residence Life John Barnousky. “I feel like that would be really good for the campus. In terms of how long it would take, it would depend on what we’re looking to achieve. I think it just depends on what the layout would look like.”
In the meantime of Gulick being torn down with no firm plan for a new building, the placement of students has changed.
International Hall, which has served as a major housing option for sophomores in years past, now exclusively serves first-year students. Reed and Massasoit also serve as first-year communities as well, with Massasoit re-opening for students to live in after being offline for the last 2 academic years. Now, sophomores mainly reside in Alumni, Abbey and Lakeside Hall. The Junior and Senior housing options still remain the same with the Living Center, Senior Suites and Townhouses all operating as normal.
The closure of Gulick has prompted Residence Life to monitor enrollment numbers very carefully, having to make these changes to make sure everyone has a room on-campus.
“We work with admissions to monitor the enrollment numbers and kind of see where we’re at as we progress[ed] throughout the summer towards the deposit deadline. Certainly try to make as much space as we can and maximize the space that we already have. It has been a little bit tight at times. We’re doing the best we can to make sure everyone has a space.”
The timeline for the following eight weeks is mainly getting the current debris removed from the site. Once that is complete, the school will do some topsoiling and seeding to the area, as seeding could start to bloom in the spring. The barricade will also be removed around Thanksgiving break.