By Jackson Hallauer

Central Michigan University has been experiencing a decline in enrollment which has led to the closure of Carey Hall in the Towers residential complex until Fall of 2020.

Last year, CMU announced that enrollment had declined by over 2,000 students from the fall of 2017. Fall 2019 enrollment numbers have not yet been published by the university.

“We did our room sign up in May for incoming students, and we realized that there were only 60 people or less who signed up to live in Carey Hall,” said Assistant Director of Residence Life Kim Voisin.

The shutdown came as a surprise to Voisin and the ResLife staff. In spring, the Office of Residence Life knew there would be fewer students, so they planned to adjust the buildings to accommodate. At first, they planned to close the eighth floor and terrace of multiple towers complexes, however, come May, they realized that simply closing a few floors would not be enough.

“We could’ve opened Carey, but you can’t really build a great community if you only have 12 people living on each floor,” said she.

The closing of Carey Hall has not only made students who signed up to live there have to relocate, but it has also led to a restructuring of ResLife staff in the Towers. Former Residents Hall Director of Carey Hall Bill O’Dell had been in the position for over 5 years.

“My first thought was sadness. I had been a hall director at CMU for 17 years. To know that a decision was being made to temporarily close down one of our buildings, it was hard not to take that personally,” said he.

O’Dell has since left his position at CMU to pursue a career in the Detroit area. He believes that the Carey Hall closure was the perfect point for him to leave his position at CMU without causing much disruption.

Jordan Menard, Residents Assitant, Senior, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was assigned to Carey Hall. She was relocated to Beddow Hall after she had already been moved into Carey.

“My first reaction was panic. I didn’t know if I was going to have a job and I didn’t want to get placed with an RHD or in a community that I didn’t like,” said she.

While Carey Hall is closed, the building will be undergoing renovations. Having the entire academic year to renovate the hall allows the entire building to be repainted, floors retiled, and other improvements to be made without the interference of students.