Residence Halls at Ohio University, founded in 1804, are mostly older buildings. The campus is a beautiful, traditional residential campus full of brick buildings, white columns, and brick sidewalks and streets. The College Green is home to buildings that date back to the early 19th century. Many of the residence halls were constructed in the 1940s/1950s/1960s as higher education grew post-World War II. There are some newer halls, but the university works stays on brand and those are built in the same style (brick and columns) as the older ones. The university is updating older halls others by remodeling lobbies and bathrooms, but you will still find a lot of cement block walls and built-in furniture. In this post we will give an overview of the different green’s and residence halls. In the future will have more detailed posts on each residence hall including room configurations and amenities.
The University is organized across “greens” or mini neighborhoods, if you will. East Green, South Green, and West Green are the main residential areas. There are dining halls located on South Green (Nelson Hall – Nelson Court) and West Green (Boyd Hall – The District on West Green). There was dining hall on East Green at Shively Hall, but the university closed in leading into the 2020-2021 academic year. You will also find dining options, namely a food court, in Baker University Center.
East Green is home to Biddle (laundry), Bryan (laundry), Bush, Jefferson (laundry), Johnson, Lincoln (laundry), Perkins, Read, Shively (laundry), Tiffin, Voigt (female only, laundry, and sometimes you will see it listed as on North Green since it’s located on College Street off of the College Green), and Washington Halls. Bryan and Read Halls are reserved for non-first year students; all the others are mixed between second year’s and upperclassmen. Those residence halls that show (laundry) after their name will have to use the laundry facility under Gamertsfelder Hall. Student’s like East Green because of its central location. Jefferson Hall has garage parking available. Read this post to understand more about student parking.
South Green is home to Adams, Brown, Carr, Crawford, Dougan, Ewing, Hoover, Luchs, Mackinnon, Pickering, Sowle, Tanaka, and Wray Halls. First year students only are assigned to Brown, Crawford, Mackinnon, and Pickering Halls. These four halls are commonly referred to as the “front four”. For the 2022-23 school year, some first-year students are living in residence halls that traditionally were reserved for upperclassman with Gamertsfelder Hall offline and a large incoming class. South Green is adjacent to East Green with outdoor sand volleyball courts and basketball courts separating them. One bonus to South Green residence halls is that they all have laundry facilities in the building. Adams Hall has garage parking. Read this post to understand more about student parking.
West Green offers student accommodations in Boyd, Bromley (laundry), the Convocation Center (laundry), James (laundry), Ryors, Sargent, Treudley, and Wilson. Bromley Hall is limited to second year students. West Green is closest to the university’s athletic facilities and debatably closest to uptown Athens. It also is home to the Russ College of Engineering and Technology and adjacent via a pedestrian tunnel under Richland Avenue to Porter Hall (home of the Psychology department), Grover Center (home to the College of Health Sciences and Professions), and Walter Hall (a multi-purpose classroom building). Students who don’t have laundry in their building will need to use the West Green laundry facility under Treudley Hall. There is garage parking available under Boyd Hall, James Hall, Ryors Hall, and Sargeant Hall. Students must have earned 30 or more credit hours to be eligible for garage parking. Read more about parking in this post.
While the university has updated some residence halls, you will still find most with concrete block wall, window air conditioning units, and built in dresser drawers and closets. The university does provide every room with a refrigerator/freezer/microwave combination unit. Students often find that lofting beds, if their room does not have a sloped ceiling, gives them additional space for a chair or even a futon.
Come back for future posts with a more in-depth look at residence halls.
