{"id":281442,"date":"2026-09-08T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281442\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:52:09","slug":"upperclassmen-dorm-houses-48-first-years-due-to-over-enrollment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281442\/","title":{"rendered":"Upperclassmen dorm houses 48 first-years due to over-enrollment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Built in 2020, the Singleton, Hitch and Maida dorms<\/a> were designed to provide on-campus housing for upperclassmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That changed this year when Lehigh over-enrolled students in the class of 2030, pushing 48 first-year students to live in Singleton dorms, according to Michaela Criswell, associate director for Housing Services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First-years typically live in Lower and Upper Centennial, The Quad or Taylor. For students placed in Singleton, the arrangement means more independence, a longer walk to some classes and residence alongside upperclassmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s plan to put first-years in Singleton was not shared with Gryphons until they had already accepted their role and came back to school for Gryphon orientation, including Jacob ten Bosch, \u201827, a Gryphon in Singleton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t find out that I would be having first-years on my floor until I got back for training, which was a week and a half before the first day of classes,\u201d ten Bosch said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ten Bosch\u2019s floor has a split of first-years and upperclassmen, with 14 first-years and 13 upperclassmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the school year has just begun, both Gryphons and first-years are still adjusting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A large part of a Gryphon\u2019s role occurs during the first few weeks of school, when they help students acclimate to their residence halls, and especially for first-years, the college environment itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During orientation week, ten Bosch led three floor meetings, two for first-years and one for upperclassmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt it was more chaotic, especially considering I didn\u2019t really know I was going to have first-years,\u201d ten Bosch said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added that there wasn\u2019t specific training for having both first-years and sophomores.<\/p>\n

Iman Sajjad, \u201827, a Gryphon in Singleton, has a floor of solely first-years.<\/p>\n

Sajjad has a smaller floor, housing 11 first-year students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similar to ten Bosch, Sajjad received an email before coming for Gryphon orientation sharing that there would be both first-years and upperclassmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, she wasn\u2019t specifically told what her floor would consist of until she arrived on campus.<\/p>\n

Thus far, Sajjad believes that her first-years are enjoying Singleton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Compared to the older typical first-year dorms, Singleton offers a more modern style and different amenities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sajjad shared that during the move-in process, many first-years\u2019 parents couldn\u2019t believe their children were living in an updated building their first year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keith Muldowney, \u201830, a first-year living in Singleton, said the Hitch gym attached to Singleton and the phone-swiping feature for entering the dorm are some of the benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like all freshmen coming into college are making adjustments,\u201d Muldowney said. \u201cI think if anything, Singleton was less of an adjustment because you still had your own bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Muldowney does not have previous college housing experience to compare Singleton to, he said living in Singleton may hinder opportunities for first-year students to bond with one another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said he thinks that the typical first-year dorms may be more active at night, even with students just wandering the halls and conversing with one another.<\/p>\n

From a Gryphon perspective, ten Bosch said Singleton\u2019s independent-style living may benefit first-years.<\/p>\n

While there may not be as much typical first-year bonding in Singleton, there are still potential benefits to communal living between first-years and upperclassmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it could be a really beneficial opportunity for first-years by being in a more mature setting and with students that are older so that way they can ask questions and see what their experiences are like,\u201d Sajjad said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, ten Bosch said he has not seen much interaction or intermingling between his first-years and upperclassmen\u00a0on his floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost feels like I have two floors of 14 residents each,\u201d ten Bosch said.<\/p>\n

Ten Bosch compared the experience to his time as a Gryphon in McClintic-Marshall last year, when the first-years on his floor still got to know one another despite not being close friends.<\/p>\n

This year, so far, he has noticed that first-year residents tend to stick with one another, and the same goes for upperclassmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the arrangement could encourage interaction between first-years and upperclassmen, ten Bosch said there are few structured opportunities for that interaction.<\/p>\n

As larger campus events bring students together, Sajjad said they may also present new challenges for residence halls. She said as Le-Laf and other large campus events occur, the heightened excitement on campus is also typically accompanied by more problems in the residence halls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sajjad said she thinks that it will be telling to see how these events unfold, especially with the co-living of first-years who are likely experiencing it for the first time, and upperclassmen who likely aren\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These students who are the first to experience Singleton as a first-year, may pave the way for this to become a normalized part of campus life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know for a lot of us, we didn\u2019t live in the best place first year, and it\u2019s kind of a rite of passage to work your way up,\u201d Sajjad said. \u201cBeing able to live here (in Singleton) your first year is a huge privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Built in 2020, the Singleton, Hitch and Maida dorms were designed to provide on-campus housing for upperclassmen.\u00a0 That…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5451,119,121,120,6223,117617,117618],"class_list":["post-281442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-5-minute-read","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-analysis","tag-first-year-experience","tag-residence-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}