Rutgers officials shut down Davidson Hall
After years of student complaints, Rutgers is finally shutting down Davidson Hall
Having received countless complaints throughout the past several years regarding the living conditions of this 55-year-old residence hall, university officials have decided that Davidson Hall will no longer house any students. According to The Daily Targum, the official decision was made by University Facilities and Capital Planning in the few weeks prior to university designated move-in days.
Including the building’s steel barrack-like appearance, many former residents have repeatedly complained about the extremely uncomfortable temperature conditions of the entire residence hall, as well as the tremendous issue of maintaining and regulating hot water temperatures throughout the building.
A former resident of Davidson Hall, Ajay P. stated that, “I can’t remember a time that I actually was comfortable when I lived there. It was always so hot! And if it wasn’t for blankets we all would’ve froze in the winter – oh, and hot showers, yeah we didn’t have those either.”
After listening to and trying to fix these complaints Antonio Calcado, vice president for the University Facilities finally came to the decision to shut down this residence hall. He stated, “There’s not much more we can do by way of repairs for it — we did everything we could. It’s a property whose time had come.”
Due to Davidson Hall’s steel construction and low level insulation, Calcado and other university officials then became aware that continuing to combat the residence hall’s lack of heat and air conditioning would only result in continued complaints.
Thus, with the opening of Rutgers’ newest living option, The Yard at College Ave, the decision to close the outdated Busch residence hall only made sense.
Although, sitting on seven acres of university-owned land, Calcado explained that the university still does expect to utilize that land for additional Rutgers housing in the future.