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Mayfield set to begin renovations

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KENZIE MEEKER/TheThreefoldAdvocate
Mayfield will begin renovations in the summer. This will affect student housing for the Fall semester.

Mayfield Residence Hall female residents will witness the renovation of their “home away from home,” this fall after over 52 years of its existence.

The construction will affect housing for the upcoming school year.

The project will begin in the new wing of the residence hall. During the 2017-2018 school year the dorm, which originally holds 247 women, will only house 100-110 women. Additional housing for female upper-class students will expand to West Twin Springs apartments.

Erin Christner, residence director of Mayfield, said the University strives to keep all their buildings up-to-date. Because Mayfield is the last resident hall to be renovated, it is time for the residence hall to be redone.

Last April, John Brown University was given a gift from the Windgate Foundation of $3 million to go towards the renovation of the resident hall. This donation will cover all the necessary costs to update the building.

The main issue Mayfield faces is its Heating, Ventalating and Air Conditioning system, which controls the heat and air conditioning throughout the building. Christner said because the current system is run by water, the building can only use either heat or air at one time.   

Resident assistant Katie Maurer said, “with Arkansas’ strange weather patterns there have been many days the whole building feels like a sauna because the weather is warm and the heaters are running.”

After the renovation is complete each resident will have control over the temperature in their rooms.

The community bathrooms on each hall will also be expanded and be completely renovated.

“We have five showers on our hall of about 40 girls,” Maurer said. “All were working on move-in day last semester and today we have two functioning showers.”

Maurer also said the middle and old wings are in need of more efficient lighting. “In most rooms there is almost no point in turning on lights because of how little light they give off.”

Despite the current condition of the hall, Maurer believes the environment of Mayfield gives the residents a special experience.

“Mayfield is honestly my favorite dorm all because of the people who live there,” Maurer said. “The other girls make this charming older dorm so worth a year or two of leaky showers and dimly lit rooms.”

“There is a unique bond that forms between all the girls in an ‘all girls dorm’.” It has its struggles, but there is also this bond of empowerment and encouragement that is fairly hard to find, and it comes very easily to the Fields of May,” Maurer said.

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