Plimpton Residents Receive Mandatory Move-Out Order

Plimpton House residents will be forced to vacate their rooms by March 21, the last day of spring break, and relocate to other dorms as the college begins rare mid-semester renovations.

Residents were informed of the change via email on Wednesday, Feb. 5, and were asked to complete a questionnaire on their top 10 replacement dorm choices by Feb. 12. Some have already moved into new dorms.

Housing & Operations (OSA) Director Marie Lalor said that the announcement was sent “once the project was approved by the [c]ollege and funding was secured,” and that the rare mid-semester move is a result of a longer-than-usual renovation timeline that couldn’t be completed within the summer schedule.

Rizwan Ayub ’27 said that speculation began circulating among residents after the announcement, with some students worrying that the changes could be linked to structural issues from previous party damages, mold found in the kitchen last November, or the discovery of a dangerous substance like lead or asbestos.

Lalor compared the renovations to those in Tyler House last summer, which followed the usual 10-week summer schedule but lacked two “significant enhancements” that Plimpton will receive in the extra time: the replacement of “all of the bedroom and common room windows,” and “[updated] fixtures and finishes in the restrooms.”

The move will also facilitate necessary overhauls similar to those seen in Tyler, renovating the dorm’s kitchen and laundry rooms, as well as improving lighting and flooring.

To answer residents’ questions, OSA held an information session on Friday, during which residents were informed about why the more substantial changes will require more time than past projects like Tyler’s.

“After learning about that, I think all of us felt like, ‘Okay, yeah, it’s reasonable. We understand,’” Kaitlyn Huang ’27 commented.

Students felt the renovations were necessary, but were frustrated by the lack of communication from OSA.

“I question why we had no heads up because I assume these renovations have been planned for a while,” said Marie Wheeler ’27.

However, other residents celebrated the option to move closer to campus.

Ayub was positive about the situation. “I’m going to be frank, I was honestly kind of happy,” he said. “A lot of people don’t like living in Plimpton because of the distance.”

OSA arranged for all residents to receive cardboard boxes and tape before their move-in date, while Special Services will handle the transportation of all items at the request of students, Lalor said. According to Lalor, as of Tuesday, all students who had been assigned a dorm received one from their top-10 list.

So far, students who have already moved have been satisfied with the process.

“The [turn-around] time was very fast,” said Ayub, who has moved to Moore. “They gave me my new housing assignment on the Thursday of the snow day.”