This past month, the Whitman admissions office has extended official campus tours to include coverage of the new residence hall, which is scheduled to open by the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year.

Prospective students and parents alike now are able to climb ladders and scaffolding around the active construction site, as well as walk through the unfinished hallways and atop the roof. While construction workers and various board members have raised concerns about having people with absolutely no protective gear or training be present in a construction zone, the admissions office has assured that this addition to the tour is completely necessary, and is a proven way to raise the number of applications submitted this year.

In a brief statement, admissions officer Kelly Sherwin stated, “The new residence hall is basically finished, and it is absolutely essential to show the entirety of the campus to prospective students. Evidence has shown that prospective students walking through this unfinished building are actually more likely to apply to Whitman College than those who toured Jewett Hall.”

High school students who toured the construction site were asked to answer a few questions about their overall experience, and the responses were overwhelmingly positive. High school senior Bill Woods said, “Honestly, it was pretty cool to walk directly through a construction zone and through a building with no walls yet. Your adrenaline really gets pumping, and all of the construction workers were really nice. One kid fell off of the second story landing, but I think that was his own fault for not looking where he was going. After this tour I can really see myself at Whitman. The unfinished dining hall looks pretty cool too.”

The Walkthroughs of Prentiss and Jewett dining hall have also been cut from campus tours in favor of the unfinished new dining hall, which is not set to open until November 2018. However, admission officers are positive that this new tour plan will be a smashing success, and attract a much larger number of applicants for the upcoming 2018-2019 academic year.