As part of a recently announced residential renewal plan, the Vera Hackman Apartments will be renovated and new apartment buildings will be constructed at Elizabethtown College over the next few years.

The final building will not open until 2022, but students are feeling the effects this year as the housing selection process changes in preparation for the construction.

Vice President for Student Life Dr. Celestino Limas met with each class Monday, Jan. 14 and Tuesday, Jan. 15, describing the changes and explaining how each class will be affected.

“We know the College needs [this change] and we really hope you’ll all appreciate it,” he said in a FaceTime interview.

A renovation of Hackman was already planned for the summer of 2019, but this announcement comes after Residence Life and Facilities Management identified the worst 150 rooms on campus in terms of number and severity of work orders. About a third of those 150 rooms were in Hackman.

One of the two Hackman buildings will be closed for renovation at a time. This cuts the number of students who can live in the apartments for the 2019-2020 year in half. According to Limas, this was the best plan for the College despite being “sticky and not perfect.”

“We’ve invested in the school academically for a while, but now there’s a drop-off between the quality of academics and residence hall quality,” Limas said. “That’s not acceptable.”

Both juniors and seniors will have rooms allotted for them in Hackman. Seniors who choose not to live in Hackman will be able to live in premium doubles at a reduced price. Additionally, 37 additional seniors will be allowed to move off-campus for the 2019-2020 year without paying an additional fee.

Current senior Amanda Hafler was surprised by what she saw as a push to move off-campus.

“When we first came to Etown, we were told most people live on campus,” she said. “I know that’s true, but it surprised me because we seem to have the on-campus facilities we need during the changes.”

The second major change is the planned construction of new housing near the corner of College Avenue and Mount Joy Street and in the field across from Ober Residence Hall. Sunday, Jan. 27, students received a survey asking them for input on all of the planned housing projects.

The first apartment building will be located on the patch of grass in the Schlosser loop along College Avenue. Construction will begin in December 2019 and the building will open in August 2020.

Royer Residence Hall will be demolished in May 2020 to make way for the next apartment building. Next, Schlosser Residence Hall will be demolished and replaced. If all goes according to plan, the fourth and final apartment building will be ready in August 2022.

“I think the main challenge is going to be staying on track with all the construction,” first-year Christian Schaaf said. Still, Schaaf, who lives in Schlosser, said he sees how the changes can benefit the students and the College in the next few years.

In the meantime, the adjusted housing selection process has begun, with rising juniors and seniors officially ranking their preferred options on JayWeb. Students will be assigned to options based on preference and lottery number. The students assigned to Hackman will only be able to choose their roommates from among the other students assigned there. For everyone else, residence hall selection will take place at the end of February.

“It’s a lot of information at once, but I could tell there was a lot of thought put into it,” Schaaf said of the selection process changes.

Schaaf and the rest of the class of 2022 could spend up to two years living in new or renovated apartments. In addition to the benefits for current students, Schaaf said he thinks the better living facilities could attract more prospective students.

Limas said he has noticed two themes in students’ responses to the plans: appreciation at the transparency during and since the class meetings and concerns about how the changes will impact their specific classes.

“This will be a challenge for the administration to see how transparent we can be,” Limas said. “It’d be great if students felt their homes were well-maintained and built around them and their interests.”