Pioneer Hall, the longest standing building at Linfield will be closed for housing at the start of next year.

According to Jeff Mackay, Associate Dean of Students, and Director of Residence Life, the residence hall is going to be closed due to lack of enrollment at Linfield. The class of 2022’s enrollment was significantly smaller than past classes and it has created a “bubble” in the system according to Mckay.

Last year, dorm halls Potter and Memorial were closed due to enrollment numbers going down, and this year Pioneer is being added to the list.

The closing of the building is not permanent, “Things are looking great for admissions next year, once our numbers start climbing back up which we are hoping and anticipating they will do, we will open it back up for housing,” McKay said.

The first two floors of the building will still be open as classrooms and offices.

Allison Horn, Director of facilities and auxiliary services, says that the closing of Pioneer does give facilities time to do maintenance work, however there will not be major reconstruction of the building because it is on the historic register.

Recently, Pioneer residence found themselves short one shower while facilities was repairing it. Horn clarifies that this task was a completely normal maintenance update, separate from major repairs that will be happening in the building this summer.

“The shower is in response to a student concern, they were having some kind of reaction on campus.” Horn said, “and felt that they may be having some issues in the Pioneer bathroom that was contributing to the students health concerns.”

To address this issue, Maintenance used a number of specialists, including a health and safety specialist, to evaluate the bathroom on the fourth floor of the building. They wanted to be sure to address the complaint seriously.

There was no mold found in the shower, but it did need some re-caulking, and that is why it was offline for a brief period of rime.

Despite its problems, Pioneer is a historic building and as such holds a great deal of sentimental value to Linfield.

Facilities carpenter Tony Silva has been working on Pioneer on and off year round in effort to keep the building in a functioning state.

Silva remarks on the nostalgic history that the building holds, “I think all freshman should have to stay in this building because this is Linfield. This is where all the history is.” Silva hopes the building will eventually be back online so that students will be able to have the true Linfield experience.