Chapter 10:

 

EAST CAMPUS

Redding Hall (with turfed-over Beach!) as it neared completion in August, 2013So, this would be Russell, Harrington, and…

 

Gilbert, R.I.P. For those of you newer kids who never new “old” Gilbert, it basically looked just like Russell and Harrington, and was there for 44 years. In 2009 the bulldozers were unleashed, Gilbert was flattened, to make way for…

 

(New) Gilbert and Redding Halls, that sit on the same location, and opened for the Fall 2013 semester. Yep, directly across the turfed over Beach, from the back of Perkins.

 

Wait, where’s Lane and Thompson?! Oh, they’re still there, it’s just that we’re defining them now as “Academy Street” dorms. For what that's all about, click over to the chapter right here!

 

Anyway, I never spent much time in the East Campus dorms, but before I started Delaware in '91, I had heard that they were the "party dorms" -- later on, after I’d been at UD for a bit, I thought, “Isn't pretty much every dorm potentially a ‘party dorm?’ What, was there a special housing form to live on East Campus, where you had to confirm that you enjoyed sex and alcohol?” Well, perhaps East Campus earned a reputation for being a cool place to live, because of its proximity to the Beach and Perkins (remember, I landed on campus years before Trabant opened).

 

Okay, so, East Campus was pretty much built-up during the late '50s and into the '60s...probably because UD as a school was rapidly expanding, and in need of housing beyond the "classic" dorms on Central Campus.

 

Honors Housing. Yep, after decades in Dickinson, first year Honors housing moved to Russell in the mid '90s, and then to some of the other East Campus dorms. In 2013 though, they started throwing the Honors nerds, I mean kids, in the new Louis Redding Hall. (Just FYI, I have license to call them nerds, so calm down braniac.)

 

Harrington underwent a significant two year renovation from 2013 to 2015; that was much more about the interior than the exterior, so don’t expect any big upgrade in curb appeal next time you lay eyes on it.

 

The Beach. Is that (formerly) patchy grass / sand thing that is now turfed-over…wait! It has its own chapter!

 

 

Take a Seat: Love / Hate Relationship

 

“My sophomore year in Harrington, unaware of the values to be had by trolling dumpsters, I actually bought a couch from Goodwill on Main Street for $30 and carried it home with my roommate. It was brown pleather, which turned into more of a stretchable rubberized-coating in the warm months. It also had a horrible solid wood piece on each armrest, which was no good for sleeping on, hooking up on, or drunk fighting on. We tried covering it up with a K-Mart sofa cover but that lasted about a week, and it merely became a blanket of sorts with a rubber band and some fabric around the bottom. This couch eventually made its way through Ivy Hall, and up to Academy Street. She was always there for me in my college years. God rest her soul.”

 

- Keith W, UD '98

 

When Harry First Lived Next to Sally

 

“Okay, I go way back, to the early '70s. I lived in Harrington B my sophomore year; this was the very first year of coed dorms. Harrington A was coed every other room, as was the first floor of B. The second was all guys and third all girls, until the end of the first semester, when we voted to go coed every other room, and those on the second and third floors moved. I was in 307 and ended up in 214. Strange that I remember the room numbers! It definitely was an experience to be in the coed dorms; it certainly helped to bring me out of my shell, so to speak. I made quite a few friendships through the dorm experience.”

 

- Anonymous, UD '74

 

Load Warrior / Boobs, Butts & Beyond: Insert in Gilbert

 

“The Gilbert laundry rooms were also a common place for sexual escapades. The door locked, and if you were doing the laundry I would say that you got more than your money's worth from that machine. I walked in a couple of times when people were getting dirty in the clean room late at night.”

 

- Rachel, UD '05

 

Beer Bubbles

 

“I was in Russell A from '98 - '99. I can recall a keg party in Russell C or D -- I don't know how it got pulled off, but it went off without a hitch. I did spend one night trying to transfer bottles of beer in my pockets, two at a time from my car to my dorm room, and got cocky and started drinking in the hallway. My RA came out and I shoved the bottle in my pocket, only to have the beer bubble up and run down my pants, like I had peed myself. I made sure to use a duffle bag after that.”

 

- Aaron, UD '02

 

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