The Whitman Wire has been able to independently verify that Stegner Hall, one of the three residence halls in College Creek, is experiencing move-in delays. This follows shortly after the news that students living in Robart Hall, another College Creek residence hall, would be having their move-in day delayed until October of this year. In the meantime, a majority of affected Stegner residents will be moved to North Hall, which was officially closed in 2018 and was briefly re-opened as emergency COVID-19 isolation housing in the past few years.

In a campus-wide email sent to students earlier this month, Jeff Hamrick, Vice-President for Finance and Administration, said “the college will not have final occupancy approval for Robart Hall for the originally-intended move-in day (August 29) for returning students.” In an email to the Wire, Hamrick explained that these delays were the result of multiple issues including difficulty “securing… laborers, ferrying them into place, and finding space to house them”, “a slight delay in receiving the sinks”, leading to the college “[pivoting] to different sinks that could be obtained quickly” and a delay in required electrical testing from August 1st to between August 15th and 20th.

Residents of Robart Hall have been provided with an expected move-in timeframe of October 2025, while residents of Stegner have been told they will likely be able to move in around September rather than their original Labor Day move-in date. Students who had planned to live in Robart Hall will be housed in College House free of charge until Robart’s completion. Some students will be moving into different housing options depending on their personal needs. The Resident Assistant for Robart Hall will also be moved to College House until its completion.

Students living in Stegner Hall received an email earlier this week regarding additional unforeseen delays to the projected move-in date of Labor Day weekend. As compensation for the inconvenience, Whitman will have $1200 credited to the Stegner residents’ student accounts to refund them for the first 30 days of housing. All affected Stegner residents will be paid this amount even in the case they are moved into Stegner before all 30 days have elapsed. We do not yet know what accommodations the Resident Assistant(s) of Stegner Hall will receive. 

Both Robart and Stegner residents can expect to receive additional move-in help in the form of transportation and extra hands to move belongings from their temporary housing to the newly completed residence halls.

We have reached out to administrators requesting their comment. This story will be updated as we receive further information about the delay and its causes.