The giant U-shaped building on the side of the campus is a mega dorm that is hard to miss. That giant structure is Garfield Hall, the traditional style dorm living that houses 437 first-year students, and it has two sides: an A side and B side. Each side has a boy and a girl wing, separated by a kitchen/living room area where students may cook and watch television.
However, this isn’t the case for the first floor, as they have no kitchen since the lobby takes up the would-be kitchen space. Instead, the first floor has a unique computer lab, complete with computers, obviously, and printers. There are also study rooms furnished with a tables and chairs only per floor and yet another community room in each boys’ and girls’ wing on both sides. An elevator provides easy access to the fourth floor, which is the only study intensive floor in the entire hall.
In the basement level, there is a special meeting room complete with whiteboards for the inevitable games of hangman. On top of that, there are balconies on every floor, which students can get access to with a key from the front desk.
Now that the indoor features have been covered, the outdoors have plenty as well. A fire pit with several chairs and levels, resides behind the B side and is right next to the, as some have called it despite being encircled by Garfield, “Wingate Quad” where students can hacky sack. On the other side of B side is the rugby field, so Garfield basically gets private seating to whatever event might be taking place there.
With all the features out of the way, which the cost of the room reflects, let’s get into the items not advertised on the CMU website. Despite all of the special accommodations that Garfield offers, it has a bit of a hotel feel to it rather than a home. There are several doors in between each community area, so there is a certain degree of separation between the different levels of community and wings. This can be overcome if all of one’s time is spent in those main living/gathering areas, but that will take a little more work, making community a harder thing to accomplish in Garfield than in halls like Piñon.
This hall is all traditional style living, so that means shared bathrooms, which can actually be quite advantageous, according to resident Sydney Klumb.
“I didn’t want to have to share a bathroom with someone else and share the responsibility of cleaning it, that could’ve just been another point of conflict with my roommate,” Klumb reasoned.
Depending on your willingness to clean the restroom, the traditional style Garfield offers could be great for those wanting to put minimal effort into cleanliness. The traditional style, with addition to all of the new and updated equipment can be seen as the pros of living in Garfield or to party if its reputation is true. Therefore, if nearly brand new facilities and big common areas are appealing, Garfield could be the perfect fit.
