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Thursday November 16, 2000

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Built up, torn down, renamed

By Emily Severson

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Throughout the history of UA dormitories, there have been many rule, culture changes

The dorms to be built in the Highland District Area have not yet been named, but once determined, the names must contribute to the UA's heritage.

The names will be chosen by a university advisory committee adhering to an Arizona Board of Regents policy, said Patty Ota, senior associate to the president of the University of Arizona.

In May, a new policy for naming facilities on campus, approved by UA President Peter Likins, states that the name of a facility contributes to the university's sense of heritage and that its naming is a significant event in the history of the institution.

ABOR has set a specific policy on names, in which a Naming Advisory Committee and Likins work together to select the best name for the project.

The Naming Advisory Committee consists of people like the presidents of the UA Foundation, the Arizona Alumni Association, the Associated Students, the Graduate and Professional Student Council and the Staff Advisory Council.

Likins approved a recent policy recommending the committee be in substantial agreement on the name because of the importance to the university's history.

Former dorm residents

Lisa Roubal, the director of travel at the UA Alumni Association, lived in the Greenlee dorm for three years, starting in 1985, and said she appreciated her living experience there.

"At the time it was an all-girls dorm," she said. "It made me feel like a part of campus. I felt really good and secure there because we were joined to Graham dorm, which was all guys, and they kind of looked out for us."

Roubal was shocked by how much the dorm has changed when she watched students move in this year.

"Every room has a computer and new bunk beds, which is a real luxury compared to when I lived there," she said.

Another member of the UA Alumni Association, Marty Cortez, lived in Maricopa dorm from 1954 to 1956. The all-female residence hall and sleeping porches remain the same as before, she said.

Back then, women that lived in Maricopa had to be back at 11:30 p.m. on weekends and 10:30 on weeknights, said Cortez, who is also a member of the International Alumni Association. The only exception she recalled was if there was a university-sponsored dance. Then, the women could then stay out until 1 a.m.

"The only time males could be in the room would be to help carry heavy things up the stairs," she said. "Otherwise, they had to be in the lobby."

Cortez also fondly remembered the role the dorm mother had in the hall.

"She had an apartment in the dorm and was responsible for watching over all the women that lived there," she said. "I remember her occasionally snatching girls off the front porch saying goodbye to their boyfriends if they were out there too late."

The dorm mother did not check every night to see if the women were home, but she could any night, so they had to be careful, she said.

The history

West Cottage switched from a women's dormitory to faculty housing four times from 1892 to 1919 and was demolished in the summer of 1920 to become Maricopa Hall - at a cost of $174,187.

Yavapai was built as a men's dormitory in the summer of 1942 for $222,285. In 1943 and 1944, it was a dorm for U.S. Naval flight instructors and became a women's dormitory from 1950 to 1958 and again from 1960 to 1964. It is now a co-educational honors dormitory, said Phyllis Ball, in her book A Photographic History of the University of Arizona.

The men's dormitory Cochise Hall was built with a price tag of $264,555 in November of 1921. Its size was considered to be so large that, before 1925, the overcrowded UA library stored its back files of Arizona newspapers there.

The original Pima Hall was built as a women's co-operative dorm in 1940 for $47,999. The room and board fee was $40 a month until 1954. A co-operative dorm required students to do their own housekeeping.

In 1979 it was remodeled for $135,356 and became the Slonaker Alumni Building, Ball stated.

Coconino was built in 1954, as a women's dormitory, for $427,290. However, it took until 1958 for its name to be put on the building.

Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall was built for about $1.1 million in 1957 as a women's dormitory. In 1976, they became the first undergraduate co- educational dorms on campus.

Sonora Hall was built in July 1963 for about $1.3 million, and Arizona Hall was added to it for about $1.3 million in 1964. Once the two halls were joined, each side housed 400 women. When they were built, some UA alumni were unhappy because, they said, Arizona Hall would lose its identity. Arizona Hall was a dorm that was originally completed in 1913 and was named after Arizona statehood the year before. It was renamed South Hall once Arizona-Sonora Hall was built, Ball stated.

Coronado Hall was built in October of 1966 for about $2.6 million. Today, the design remains the same as when it was first built. However, it did change from an all-female dorm to welcoming both sexes today.

Christopher City was built in the 1960s as a married-student housing complex at the site of the former Catholic Retirement Center. It was purchased for the price of about $2.5 million However, it was demolished this year, and residents were forced to move out, when toxic mold was found in some apartment complexes.