Tyler House Closed Due To Low Interest

The college closed Tyler House for the 2026-2027 academic year after only three students signed up to live in the dorm. The three students and one community advisor were relocated to King, Lipton, and Plimpton Residence Halls.

Tyler House is a part of the North Campus residential area, located past the Emily Dickinson Museum. The part of the campus is colloquially known as “the Hill,” due to its elevated position relative to the central campus. Its roughly 15-minute walk from the main campus has made it unpopular among students.

Student Affairs, Office of Community Living, Campus Operations, and Planning Design & Construction made the decision to close the hall in July. In an email to The Student, Senior Associate Dean of Students Dean Gendron cited student well-being as the main reason for the decision. “The college did not want them to feel unintentionally isolated or removed from campus,” he wrote.

The Office of Community Living then notified students about the closure on July 29. Students could indicate their preferences for the new dorm, and room types were not affected. Director of Communications in Student Affairs Dan Desrochers explained that the college leaves a few rooms vacant each academic year in case of room changes.

Tessa Weber ’29, one of the students who had signed up to live in Tyler, explained that although she received her first-choice residence hall, the relocation process was stressful. Weber was at the college working as a summer intern for the Office of Admission when she was notified about the change. “I felt a bit stressed because I was not assigned to my new dorm until 48 hours before I was supposed to vacate my summer dorm in the Greenways,” she wrote in an email to The Student. “I do wish the college had handled this situation better, primarily the communication with students.”

The building is currently vacant and monitored. Desrochers emphasizes that the closure is not related to the building itself. “The Tyler House closure was in no way tied to any physical or building condition issues. If any work does occur at Tyler House during its closure, it would be for refinement, not repair,” he wrote.

The closure is expected to decrease energy costs and allow staff who would have been assigned to the residence hall to work elsewhere on campus. The decision currently applies only to the 2026–27 academic year, and Tyler will remain an option for students in Fall 2027.