Students this fall will be able to enjoy brand new bathrooms in Lake and Olson halls. Each private stall has a shower, sink and toilet. Renovations were also completed in Eastway and Korb Halls. LESLEY KATZENMEYER | SUMMER KENT STATER

Credit: DKS Editors

Students moving into residence halls this fall will see a few changes.

Many of the buildings will have newly renovated bathrooms, including Korb, Fletcher, Clark and Olson halls.

The bathrooms will be finished in time for when the freshmen move in Aug. 22, and Korb is done already, said Michael Bruder, assistant director of the office of the University Architect.

Jim Zentmeyer, associate director of residence services, said Korb has gotten new bathrooms that are similar to Leebrick’s, with private stalls accessible off the main hallway.

The bathrooms in Fletcher, Clark, Lake and Olson will be like the ones in Allyn and Manchester, Zentmeyer said.

“Eastway Center will be complete as far as new plumbing is concerned,” he said.

Allyn and Manchester, in Eastway, have a “bathroom within a bathroom” concept: private stalls each with a shower, sink and toilet in a larger bathroom.

Before, Zentmeyer said, “You’d have a row of showers, a row of sinks, a row commodes. That was pretty impersonal, not really private.”

Olson Hall is being renovated to house the College of Communication and Information residential college, the CCI Commons.

CCI Commons will have renovated office space, a classroom and computer lab as well as use of two lounges.

Joel Bynum, senior learning community coordinator, said the third floor lounge will be used as a video editing lab.

Marianne Warzinski, program coordinator for CCI Commons, said the program has been in existence for three years, and used to share Verder Hall with the Fine Arts community.

“In some ways we felt like we never had our own home,” she said.

Warzinski said the community has doubled its membership from the previous year, from 80 students to 163.

While some residence halls are being renovated, others will be closing.

Heer, Harbourt and Van Campen halls are not accessible to people with disabilities and will not house students in the coming semester.

Harbourt and Heer will remain empty with their utilities shut off for the time being, and they will probably be torn down in the next two years, Zentmeyer said.

The Office of International Affairs moved into Van Campen a year ago when the Honors college got its new building in the Stopher-Johnson complex. The residence halls are no longer needed, but Van Campen Hall will be reclassified as an academic building, Zentmeyer said.

Contact principal reporter Kiera Manion-Fischer at [email protected].