With the increase of students that attend Eastern every year, the Board of Trustees has voted to sell $14.6 million in bonds in order to have a new dorm built. It will include space for up to 160 students. There will also be an office building built next to it.
“I think that building a new dorm is a smart move on Eastern’s part. Some of the students in Hainer are crammed because the single dorms have been forced to be doubles,” first-year Amber Williams said. “I think it will be pretty exciting.”
Before the building can begin, the board must undergo an 18-month process of getting approval, according to Provost David Fraser.
According to Fraser, now that the funding for the buildings has been approved, the blueprints can be drawn.
The blueprints will have to be approved by the Radnor Township zoning board. They will also have to get approval from about six other townships because they will have to put in additional sewage, according to Fraser.
After the blueprints are approved, the bonds will be sold and paid with interest. The buildings will be located across from Heritage and NCH, after the woods are cleared out.
Since parking is already a problem on campus, the administration is looking at new ways of handling even more resident students. One possible solution is to build a parking garage next to the dorm and offices. Whether the garage is built depends on how much money is raised to be spent on the new buildings, Fraser said.
Biblical studies professor Dwight Peterson, the board of trustees faculty representative, said that the other building will not just have office space, but will also include eight to 10 classrooms for graduate and undergraduate classes. It will mostly have graduate classes during the day, but will also have undergraduate night classes for arts and sciences.
No name has been decided for the new building, but Fraser offered a challenge to the Eastern community.
“For five million dollars we can call it whatever you want,” he said.
Will Cunningham 
Mikaela Brown 
Sophia Hunter