The state of dorms at UNH

Durham-- I live in Smith Hall, the international dorm in the University of New Hampshire. This is my fourth year living here and each year I have lived there, I love it even more. But in December, UNH President Mark Huddleston and Mark Rubinstein, Interim Foundation President/Vice President for Advancement and university admissions made a decision to close Smith Hall and convert it into an admissions building to make room for a new business school, displacing the Smith Hall residents to Fairchild Hall effective in the fall. The students that reside in Fairchild have the right to move to the New England Center, which is a hotel and has several suites if they don't want to live in their current dorm next year.
It started out with an alumni Peter T. Paul, who challenged UNH to raise $25 million to build a new business school and Paul would then donate an additional $25 million. It was quiet a bluff and UNH went on with it. They would build the business school in Petee rd. and in Garrison ave. and then knock down Janetos, Grant admissions building, Schofeld and Hershey to make room. They will name the building the Peter T. Paul business school. UNH made the decision to close the dorm three weeks before it was announced. However, they wanted to make the announcement in the spring semester, but the news broke out prematurely.
There are 96 students that live in Smith Hall and they are extremely upset. There are about 130 students that live in Fairchild Hall and they are also extremely angry about before forced on being integrated into an international community, and rightly so. When the decision was made, Smith Hall residents believe that students have no voice on campus. You know what though, when a money-making corporation like college makes decisions like this, there are going to be several groups that are getting screwed and there will be no other voices. The ROTC program also does not have a place to train now either because of the current plan. UNH felt the only way that they can make this plan work is if they close the smallest dorm on campus and then move them to another dorm, everything will be hunkey dory. They were wrong to make that assumption.
Since the news broke, Smith Hall students have been planning to convince the admissions to reverse the decision, but they are not budging. In mid-December, Smith Hall had a silent protest outside of Thompson Hall. They put blue tape in their mouths implying that they have no voice on campus. It forced Huddleston to arrange a meeting with the student senate on February 14th, the day before Housing Registration opens.
Meanwhile, Smith Hall residents Cathleen Turner, Connor Hughes and Michael Sanchez have been actively attempting to give Smith Hall media coverage to put pressure on Huddleston and Rubinstein to reverse the decision.
How do I feel about this? I have been living at Smith for four years now and even though I am graduating after this semester, I worked very hard along with other people to make this dorm the way it is today. I don't think I would be the person I am today if it wasn't for the people I met in this dorm. They made me open my eyes to things around me including studying abroad in London. They have also influenced me to become active in the community. As much as I am tired of the complaining and moaning of the other Smith kids losing this dorm, I can understand why. All we do is pay our tuition and other expenses and learn about how money-making businesses make decisions. That is the way it is. Do I think this is a story? Absolutely. This affects many people on campus, never mind the two dorms. It affects other people, including foreign-language clubs who come to Smith for socials. I think this decision will be beneficial in the long run for the university, but no matter what moves they make, it will always hurt people. Business is business.