During the inaugural State of the College Address on Wednesday, March 29, President Biddy Martin announced that Valentine Residence Hall will be renovated this summer.

In an email interview with Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord, the renovations to the dorm “will be a light-touch cosmetic upgrade of the interior finishes in the corridors and common areas.” The common areas will be repainted, carpeted and installed with new lighting fixtures.

Brassord also added that there were plans to “[convert] two bedrooms at the center of the second floor into a lounge that will be open to the corridor and adjacent to and connected with the balcony, which we will also enhance with roof deck outdoor furnishings.”

Current Val resident Carlos Cosme ’19 expressed enthusiasm for the renovation plans. “I think carpets would be super nice,” he said, adding that the current lack of carpets in Val is his biggest complaint about the dormitory. “The linoleum floor sucks.”

Val was one of his last housing choices during room draw, Cosme said. He added that he wished the showers had lighting fixtures. Brassord’s response did not specify if lighting upgrades would be added to bathrooms as well as hallways.
When told of the planned renovations, Andrew Floersheimer ’20 said “many of the students would like to see a great deal more.” In particular, Floersheimer said he would “love to have lighter showers and no visible stains [in the bathrooms].”
Floersheimer said he visited Valentine to assess the condition of the facilities ahead of room draw, but had previously heard various rumors about the downsides of living in Val. “[I heard] it was not the greatest place to live on campus,” Floersheimer said. “It smells like food.”

Floersheimer, despite his concerns about the conditions of the bathrooms, said that the renovations are “a good start in the right direction.”