The first-years living in the former Writing Center may call themselves the Whitman Dungeonites, but they don’t have it nearly as bad as the name might imply.
Over the summer, the basement of Whitman College — once home to writing conferences and R3s — was converted into dorms to accommodate the incoming Class of 2022. The transformation included new furniture, new flooring, painting, and other repairs.
The new Writing Center is now located on the second floor of New South Building.
“When I heard that I was going to be moving into the basement — the Writing Center — I was kind of disappointed,” Audrey Yan ’22 said.
Checking the floor plans before move-in, Yan and others were afraid that they would be moving into tiny office spaces.
After arriving, though, she and the other freshmen — who make up three different zee groups — began to warm up to their new home.
Some of them appreciate the smaller things.
Christina Wang ’22 said she particularly enjoys the furniture, which is light-colored, a big contrast to the stereotypical dark wooden Whitman furniture.
Katherine Shelburne ’22 said she enjoys the ample space in her quad.
Residents considered the split bedroom and private study room to be a unique perk. In the setup, students living in doubles have both a bedroom and a separate prox-access study space, where they can go to get work done while their roommates are sleeping.
In addition, there are three large common rooms shared by all the zee groups. These spaces are frequently used for both studying and hanging out, providing a place for people to get together.
“During the day, instead of just being in your room, you’re taking work out of your room to put it into the social area so that if someone walks past, you can have a conversation. There’s always people in the common rooms,” Kajsa Souter ’22 said.
Unlike the freshmen, the three RCAs — Prachi Joshi ’19, Andy Charbonneau ’20, and Caton Yang ’20 — are familiar with the former occupants of Whitman’s lower floor, so it’s a little more strange of a space for them.
“It’s weird to think that my freshmen and sophomore year, I would come study down here in the Writing Center,” Joshi said. “But I think the space just looks so different that it barely crosses my mind.”
There are some downsides, residents said. For one, there is only a small bathroom with a few stalls down the hall, while the showers are upstairs. To do laundry, one must make a trek to an unconnected part of the building. Natural light is also lacking — it is a basement, after all — and although there are windows, they are slanted towards the ground.
Overall, however, the Whitman Dungeonites see a big upside to their accomodation.
“The three zee groups who live here are really tight. It’s almost like one big zee group,” Grace Matthews ’22 said.
The RCAs agreed.
“The three zee groups are blended together. We’re not split up by any sophomores or upperclassmen — it’s just freshmen,” Joshi said.
“Everyone down here is just a really solid community,” Charbonneau said.
Although the Dungeonites have only been in their accomodations for about a month, they are already thinking about their future rooming situation.
“I wouldn’t mind living here again another year,” Yan said.
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