There are many dorms on the Gordon campus- of many varieties. There are apartments, small dorms in houses with only a few students in them, and regular dorms with rooms for 1-3 students. For this, I suppose the easiest way would be to give a rundown of all the dorms and a little information about them.

The "HUD" Dorms: These four dorms are: Wilson Hall, Lewis Hall, Evans Hall, and Sheppard Hall. They were built in the 1960's and were made to house approximately 80-120 students. There are mostly rooms for 2 people, and some single rooms as well. They are infamous on the Gordon campus for having all of the furniture bolted to the walls and not touching the floor. That's right folks! Imagine having a bed, desk and closet that do not touch the floor. It is interesting, to say the least. All of these dorms also have a lounge, a lobby, and a kichen/laundry room for the dorm residents to share. Each floor has it's own bathroom, but if you are lucky enough to get into a suite, you can have a bathroom of your very own! All of these dorms are coed, except for Sheppard, which is girls only.

Ferrin Hall: This dorm was built in the mid-1980's, so it is in fairly good condition. It has rooms for 1-3 students, and also a few apartments. The furniture is movable in these dorms, which is convenient, but also the rooms in Ferrin are smaller than in the HUD dorms. I am not sure how many students it houses, but I figure that it is about twice the size of the HUD dorms. This dorm is coed.

Wood Hall and Byington Hall: This dorm is one of the older dorms, built in the 1950's. It is a beautiful brick building, and it can be seen all over campus. It houses a great many students. The rooms are made for 1-2 students, but due to the growing population, they have what we call "forced triples". What this means at that 3 people, and all of their stuff, is crammed in a room built for 2 people. I almost ended up in a room like this but was lucky enough that someone from another dorm left last-minute and I got their spot in a larger room. Another coed dorm.
Behind Wood is a small red building, Byington Hall. It houses about 20 students in 2-person rooms. It is very old, and not in the greatest condition. It has had problems with "sinking into the ground," that have been repaired in the last year. Byington is another all girls dorm.

Bromley Hall: A building full of apartments. Each apartment houses 4-7 students. Each apartment has 2 or 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. They are a little small but are cozy, and they have enough breathing room! This is one of the older dorms, and needs a few repairs, but not at all in bad condition!

Tavilla Hall: Gordon's newest apartments, each housing 4-7 students. It was built in 1997 or 1998, and is a great place to live. It is the only dorm with cable, so seniors are always trying to get an apartment there. Each has 2-4 bedrooms (for example, a 6-person apartment has 4 bedrooms- 2 doubles and 2 singles), a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. They are bigger and nicer than the Bromley apartments. Right next to Tavilla, another dorm is being built and hopefully will be ready by Fall 2001. The only problem with Tavilla, and the new dorm (lovingly called "Tavilla II") is that they are up a hill and are on the edge of campus. Although not even this is a big deal, since the campus is so small.

Wilson House: Live in the President's House! Seven lucky students, 4 girls and 3 boys, get to live where Gordon's President, Judson Carlberg, lives. The girls live in an apartment attached to the house. It has one huge bedroom with a fireplace, a really nice, large bathroom, a little kitchen, a study room, and a nice-sized living room. The boys live in an apartment attached to the President's garage. I have never been in it but believe it to be equally nice.

The Road Halls: I am not even sure how many of these there are. Some of them are- Dexter, Rider,Gedney,Hilton, MacInnis, and Conrad Halls. These are small dorms in actual houses, and probably house less than 25 students, although I am not sure. They are great in that they are close knit, but they are a bit of a walk to all the classrooms and the school cafeteria.

Drew Hall: I do not know much about this one, except that it houses mostly upperclassmen. I think it might be all men, but I couldn't be sure, so don't quote me on this! It is right behind the Bromley apartments, so it is close to everything on campus.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW:
*Open Hall- There are rules as to when people can or cannot have people of the opposite gender in their rooms. Most of the dorms have open hall 6 nights a week (no Thursdays), the apartments have all 7 days. A lot of students do not like this rule, but personally, I think it is nice to not have to worry about boys roaming my hall or having a roommate with her boyfriend doing who-knows-what on the other side of the room.

*Smoking, drinking, etc.- Our school follows all state, national, and Biblical rules on these matters. There is no smoking or drinking or drugs or weapons, etc. etc., on school grounds. That is common with most schools. What is different about this school is that they also believe in abstinence as a Biblical policy, thus there are sever actions taken whenever someone is caught drinking, smoking, or having sex. YES, there is a rule against that. Christians believe in no sex until after marriage, so if people get caught, there IS a penalty.

*Decorating, etc.- No nails, tape, tacks, etc, on the walls. For decorations, we are only allowed to use sticky tac, and it has to be blue or yellow, because they don't take the paint off of the walls. Also, decorating has to be tasteful (it follows Biblical principals.) There are no decorations allowed on the ceiling, no dried plants, candles, or halogen lamps (fire hazards), no taking out window screens (it can break windows or allow people on the lower floors to break open hall rules.) I think that these are all good rules. If they are broken, students are fined.

*Resident Directors and Resident Assistants- One RD per building, one RA per each side of the floor of the building. The RD plans dorm activities, sets and enforces rules, and is the final say on any dorm disputes. The RA's are there to help the floor bond, to make sure that they are following rules, to be there to help and encourage. They have to apply for the job so we know that, for the most part, they are people with leadership qualities, sensitivity, and knowledge. :0)

*Living off-campus- Almost all students are required to live on-campus. They can get out of it if they live with family close to the school, are over age 23, or are married. To live off campus, they have to talk to the housing directors first to have it allowed. Since most students live on campus, everybody knows everybody!

Well, that's all I have about the wonderful dorms of Gordon College. Any questions, just ask! I would be more than happy to answer.




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