Algonquin Hall is available for residency next year, but its future is uncertain
The oldest residential area on the Boca Raton campus will still be available in the upcoming fall and spring semester, but repurposing rumors linger.
Algonquin is the oldest student housing option on the Boca Raton campus, as well as one of the cheapest. Photo by Wesley Wright | Business Manager
March 23, 2016
Despite renovations in 2011, rumors have been circulating about the future of Algonquin Hall, Florida Atlantic’s oldest student residential area.
The hall was Boca Raton’s first on-campus housing after the school opened in 1964, and some have suggested that the 2016 spring semester could be its last as a living area for students.
Executive Director for Housing and Residential Life Larry Faerman dismissed the rumors, saying “Algonquin has been made available to rent and live in for this semester and the upcoming semesters.”
Faerman said that it is available for students to reside in for fall 2016 and spring 2017. He claims that 85 of the building’s 92 spaces have already been filled for next year.
When asked if there are plans for Algonquin after the spring 2017 semester, Faerman doubled down on the same point and said, “Algonquin Hall is currently planned to be utilized as residential space. There have been no discussions to vary its utilization from housing to office space.”
Stanislav Verdeil is a freshman business marketing major that lives in the residential hall.
The heard rumors that the building would eventually be repurposed.
Verdeil said, “We heard from the RAs that it was going to be demolished to make way for a place for out-of-town parents to stay at or be turned into a office.”
A December 2015 tweet from the Resident Student Association said that starting in fall of 2016, Algonquin Hall would no longer serve as a living area for students. Instead, it will serve a different function, which was unspecified at the time.
One student requested anonymity, citing fears that Student Government could punish her. The student has lived in Algonquin for the past three years and says there are always talks about the building changing, but nothing has ever been set in stone.
“They’re just rumors,” she said. “They’ve been on and off about the future of Algonquin for as long as I’ve lived there.”
Nate Nkumbu is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or contact him on Twitter.
