The recent closure of Penn State Behrend’s Perry Hall has left students and faculty alike questioning the current situation regarding the building.

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Perry Hall is not open to students this fall semester, placing the influx of resident students in the newly constructed Trippe Hall, which opened at the start of this academic year.

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“We closed Perry Hall this year because we had an abundance of available space. We knew, with the addition of Trippe Hall, that we were going to have additional of space, and then that coupled with a slightly lower on-campus enrollment with our first year of class led us to the decision to take Perry Hall offline and evaluate what we were going to do with it moving forward in the future,” said Mike Lindner, Director of Housing and Food Services (HFS).

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The current school year is witness to an increase in the number of students commuting to campus as opposed to living on campus. According to the Behrend website, roughly 4,600 students are currently enrolled at Behrend and only around 1,750 of those students live on campus. This year, total enrollment has seen a slight decrease while the number of commuter students has increased. With the lower enrollment, there are not enough students to completely fill all of the residence halls, so the decision was made to close Perry Hall for this school year.

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The building is still fully functional and suitable for resident life, but only staff may enter for maintenance purposes.

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The decision to close Perry Hall was decided based off several factors including location, financial impact and the current physical attributes of the building, such as its age and the amenities available to resident students. “When we looked at our facilities, Perry Hall was our oldest facility, built in 1969. Also, some of our other facilities have greater amenities in them, and when we were looking at which ones made sense to take offline, we took the one that had probably the longest term of service,” said Lindner.

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Niagara Hall is the special living option for engineering students and considering that Niagara is close to Burke, closing the building would have distanced those students from their classrooms. Lawrence Hall houses Oliver’s Lounge and is located closest to the dining facilities of all three halls, so closing it would have reduced the accessibility to amenities for residents.

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In financial terms, closing Perry proved beneficial to HFS because of the reduction in staffing needed for the building. “We have to staff the building and have utilities for the building, and we have everything else that goes with the building. This way we’re not wasting money on empty space. The building closed, so the upkeep of the building is significantly less,” said Lindner.

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As only roughly 1,750 students live on campus, opening all of the residence halls would have spread the resident students thin. Closing Perry promoted community engagement in the other residence halls by increasing the number of students living in proximity with each other. The amount of empty space was decreased per hall, allowing students to better interact with one another.

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Junior Heather Vommoro reminisces about living in Perry during her freshman year: “It was great, easily the best time since I’ve been here, between the people, seeing everyone walking down the hall, leaving doors open, all your friends right around,” she explained.

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While the hall is closed, Lindner and the Department of HFS have plans for renovations to improve Perry Hall. “Right now, we’re looking at small projects that could benefit the building that could be done over the summer… If we get to a point in this enrollment process where those prospects don’t look strong, then we probably will go into a different conversation where we start talking long-term what do we want to do to this space long term knowing that it’s going to be off for another year,” said Lindner.

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As of now, the Department plans to incorporate kitchens into each traditional residence hall and update the bathrooms in Perry to private communal restrooms, modeled after the ones in Trippe Hall. The actual completion of these projects depends on the amount of time Perry is closed. “Once we get a feel for what the incoming first-year numbers are going to look like next year will help us determine whether or not we have the time to make some changes to Perry Hall,” said Lindner. “If we knew that the building was going to be offline for a couple years, or at least this year and next year, that might be a renovation that would be plausible,” Lindner continued.

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The closure of Perry Hall is not permanent. According to Lindner, the Department of HFS has plans to reopen the hall next Fall. The reopening depends on future student enrollment and the resulting demand for on-campus living. “If we saw a significant increase in local students making up the incoming first-year class, that would have a dramatic effect on our on-campus housing numbers,” said Lindner. Other factors include the retention ratio for resident students and the target number for first-year enrollment. “We are going to come to a decision based on the request for housing space,” Lindner continued.