Residence halls at Marshall are not squeezing students, after a summer full of rumors speculated they would be.

Since both enrollment and the number of students seeking housing grew, members of the campus community feared that the overflow of people would cause a variety of overcrowding issues, particularly within the walls of Marshall’s nine residence halls.

The Parthenon previously reported at the end of July that due to this anticipated growth in students on campus, leaders in the university’s housing department put precautionary measures in place—like turning study lounges into temporary rooms and resident advisors having roommates—if they needed the extra space.

This information, along with the plan to house overflow students into Holderby Hall, led to mass anxiety for many involved. 

Luckily, said Mistie Bibbee, director of Housing and Residence Life, these measures did not need to be utilized once classes began Monday, Aug. 19. 

“We always see an influx of cancellations during end of July, beginning of August,” she said. “We were prepared for the worst but did not need to use that.”

Bibbee went on to say that only a handful of students–including their RA–were housed in Holderby for early move-in. By the first day of class, these students moved to their permanent resident halls. This means the 61-year-old dormitory is no longer being used and is not housing residents.

Bibbee said that they will now resume decommissioning of the Holderby building. Most of the renovations made for temporary residents will be undone as part of the process before its scheduled demolition in January.

With the fall semester in motion, Bibbee said she and the rest of the housing office plan to continue prioritizing positive student life on campus, even if facilities are a bit more crowded than usual.