Over 150 freshmen displaced as North Morlan closes, scheduled to reopen next month

The North Morlan residence hall is closed until Oct. 1, forcing students to move into alternative housing while repairs are made to the building’s infrastructure. MAYA BRAUNWARTH, Staff Photographer

Isabella Mahar, a freshman English major, moved in to the North Morlan residence hall a week before the other freshmen and was working in her job in the Department of Student Engagement when she received an email Aug. 18 saying she would be transferred to a new residence hall. This prompted her to visit Annessa Garcia, the resident director of North Morlan, for more information.

Mahar said she felt it has been confusing since the beginning due to the lack of information provided to students.

“For me, the original communication didn’t have any information in it,” Mahar told The Panther. “I was so confused. I was at work in the Student Union, and suddenly, I got this email saying I have to move out. It said I had to start getting my stuff together that night, which didn’t turn out to be the case. They gave me a couple days, but it definitely freaked me out at first.”

Mahar was one of 182 students who were assigned to North Morlan and one of 30 freshmen who were permanently relocated to other housing options, according to Dave Sundby, the director of Residence Life. The residence hall was shut down for repairs Aug. 20 after Chapman University students already living in the hall reported minor floods in some of the first floor units.

In response, these students and those scheduled to move in Aug. 24 were relocated to other on-campus dormitories as well as Chapman Grand Apartments, Panther Village Apartments and The K Residence Hall.

According to Rick Turner, the vice president of facilities management, the vertical waste stacks that pipe water for sinks and showers began leaking due to “occupied demand,” meaning that the current state of the pipes prevented waste from being moved through once the building was filled to capacity.

Chapman learned of the floods Aug. 11 following student reports. An investigation was conducted, and all bathroom fixtures above the first floor were used in order to determine if the flooding was strictly a floor issue or an overall building issue.

Turner noted that the repairs are being made at the intersection of the eight vertical backgones and one horizontal sewer line under the first floor of North Morlan. All of the vertical lines will be cut out and replaced. Once the repairs are finished, extensive cleaning will be done and new flooring will be put in where the excavations were done.

As these repairs are completed, the rooms will be opened up and the Office of Residence Life and First Year Experience will help coordinate the move-in process for the freshmen, though student athletes and other groups who moved into housing early will get priority access. The department of Facilities Management will also assist in this coordination, according to Turner. 

Turner said the building is expected to reopen Oct. 1.

“We’ve established that date because it’s making us accountable to some extent to get to that date,” Turner said at an Aug. 20 virtual town hall meeting for Chapman students and parents. “We want to make sure that we have the students in as quickly as possible, so we set that date to force us to get there. It’s my challenge — I have accepted it, and we’re going to make it happen as best as we possibly can.”

Dean of Student Affairs Jerry Price spoke at an in-person forum hosted Aug. 29 at Panther Village for the freshmen who were displaced. He told The Panther he opted to host the forum there because more students living in Panther Village voiced concern compared to  students living on any other Chapman-owned property. Price said his intention was to apologize for the relocation and hear from students what they felt was going well and what was not.

“I hope … they understood the dean of students came out there and wanted to hear from them in-person, and it mattered enough that we would do that on a Sunday afternoon,” Price said in an interview with The Panther. “I do think that they had a lot of questions that I was not able to — or really prepared to — give them an answer (on) then, such as ‘Will we have to move back? What’s going to happen with my meal plan?’”

Price noted that many students have asked if they could permanently stay in their new housing assignment, and if North Morlan could be used as a quarantine space for students who test positive for COVID-19. This would not be the case, as the rooms have shared bathrooms and a shared ventilation system.

“The whole plan is predicated on them moving back to North Morlan when rooms are available,” Price said. “If they don’t want to do that, then we have to evaluate whether or not there is an option for them to stay.”

Although some students would choose to stay in the temporary housing, it is unclear whether or not that will be an option for the displaced freshmen.

“It’s just not designed for that purpose, and plus, we think it’s better designed for freshmen,” Price said. “So we’re saying there’s a reason why we want you to move back. If we can recoup the isolation spaces we need and still leave some people at Panther Village, we will consider that. But, it’s just way too early to know if that’s the case.”

In the Aug. 20 virtual town hall meeting, administrators and faculty spoke to students and parents, giving an update on the situation and university plans. The rest of the time was allotted to a question-and-answer session, where attendees asked about roommate assignments, if professors will accommodate students moving back to the hall and more.

During the pandemic, North Morlan was one of the few housing options that fully closed, and as such, was subjected to routine room inspections to ensure amenities, such as toilets and on-tap water, were maintained. The same procedure applied to other uninhabited buildings.

Work orders were created for anything that was found to need repairs. When the 2020-2021 academic year ended in May, the dorms opened for summer classes and several general repairs were made, but nothing problematic in the infrastructure was found until the first weeks of August.

Currently, freshman Mahar is living with her original roommate from North Morlan and a temporary roommate in the Davis Apartment complex. Mahar said that her temporary roommate also expressed confusion since she does not know when she would move out, if required.

“We like her, we want her to stay and she wants to stay, but there’s a big disconnect,” Mahar said. “I guess the administration was super into kind of trying to give that information, like when it first happened, but now that school is starting, it’s like they’ve forgotten about it and never really given any updates (since).”