Three dorms open for summer housing
MacGregor, Senior House, EC east parallel open as others are renovated
Planning on staying on-campus this summer? Three dorms — East Campus (East Parallel), MacGregor, and Senior House — will house undergraduates this summer. Two of them, MacGregor and Senior House, also housed undergraduate students last summer.
“Originally, East Campus was going to be completely closed for the summer,” said Senior Associate Dean for Student Life Henry J. Humphreys. “We had to alter our plans because the façade of both Bexley and of Random need extensive work on them. You don’t want to be living inside the building when they’re working on the façade since it’s really noisy and annoying.”
Bexley Hall, Random Hall, New House, and East Campus (West Parallel) will be closed for the summer. The rest of the dorms will house summer conference and program guests, such as RSI (Research Science Institute) or Interphase students.
Both Bexley and Random Hall were available last summer to house undergraduates.
“We try to every year rotate which buildings that we close down to do full cleaning [or] repairs on, which buildings we use for student housing, and which buildings we use for conference housing,” explained Humphreys. The rotation allows MIT Housing to give certain buildings a rest so that proper cleaning and maintenance can be completed, since “it’s hard to do maintenance on a building when students are still living in it.”
Although East Campus was closed last summer, Humphreys said that the thorough cleaning that was supposed to occur was not completed.
“Even though we did cleaning last year, we’re still getting complaints from residents about insects,” said Humphreys. “There are issues with rodents around the building, so we’re going to be trying to address those this summer.”
Caroline M. Chin ’16, who lives in East Campus’ West Parallel, said that the cleanliness varies a large amount between halls. “Kitchens are run by your hall, so the cleanliness depends on whether or not the people in your hall are clean,” said Chin. “There are mice, but it’s hard to avoid that when there’s a kitchen in the hall.”
Planned repairs include painting, carpeting, and possible furniture replacement. Humphreys also anticipates fixing any electrical or plumbing issues that may arise.
On the other hand, the scope of summer work for New House has not yet been set. Residents may see completely renovated kitchens, but whether the kitchen renovations will occur this summer or next summer has yet to be determined.
Although unsure about the timeline, according to Matthew J. Davis ’16, the dining chair for New House, “the kitchens will be completely redone with new appliances, new ventilation, and new layouts.”
This year’s summer housing rates show no marked increase from last year’s rates. According to Humphreys, this summer’s rates are meant to mirror the 2012-2013 undergraduate housing costs. An East Campus single will cost $2,171 for the summer, compared to $3,562 during the academic semester.
MIT Housing will release the 2013 Summer Student Housing Application on Friday, April 5, and close the application on Wednesday, April 24. According to the MIT summer student housing website, lottery results will be emailed to all applicants on Wednesday, May 1.