This summer, Eastern’s campus will be a little more prepared in case of an emergency.

Andrews Hall will be receiving sprinklers and a fire alarm system upgrade. In addition to an alarm, the new system will also have a speaker in each room with a voice evacuation system, which will connect automatically with updates from the national weather service.

“In crises like at Virginia Tech, we could announce to just one floor, like third floor, ‘Lock your doors and stay until we come get you,'” said Mark Hudson, director of housing and dining.

Students don’t know if such a system is needed.

“It seems like it will be helpful, but I am not sure if it is necessary if there is an emergency,” said Alex Orfanos, a junior political science major. “I would like to think if there is a maniac running around with a gun, someone would let me know right away. But, unfortunately, that isn’t what always happens.”

The sprinkler system will cost approximately $1.2 million to install. Housing also had to pay an initial fee of $250,000 to an architect to design the plan for the system to fit into the building. This plan will also be used for Lawson next summer.

Also in Andrews Hall, the second and third floors will go through the updating and renovating process. This process includes new woodwork, locks, wiring, carpet and stackable furniture.

The investment in Andrews will cost a few million dollars this summer, Hudson said.

The key to renovations in the summer is timing. Mark Shaklee, the associate director of housing for facilities, tries to time the renovation projects around the summer conferences that use Eastern’s residence halls.

Also this summer, security cameras will be installed in all the common areas of the residence halls in the south quad. This includes Andrews, Lawson, Taylor and Thomas Halls. The system will be similar to the cameras that are currently in Carman Hall and will be recorded to hard drives that can be accessed by hall staff and the university police department.

Lincoln and Douglas Halls will continue the next step in the renovation project. Another floor in Lincoln will receive the same updating as Andrews Hall.

Lincoln has undergone renovation throughout the school year and this will put the Lincoln Hall renovation project at more than 50 percent complete.

Kristen Rutkowski was able to move into one of the newly renovated rooms halfway through the semester and said she loves the new stackable furniture.

The freshman physiology major is enjoying her loft and the much cleaner room. She remembers the worst thing about her old room was the ugly orange carpet.

Eileen Oshea is a senior biology major who lives in one of the old-style rooms in Lincoln Hall.

She said she mostly looks forward to the new furniture because her cabinets are in bad shape and her desk has seen better days. One of her drawers won’t even shut, she said.

Douglas Hall will receive a new laundry facility in the basement, which will take over a triple occupancy room to better accommodate students.

“The laundry room now is small, cramped and only has four washers and five dryers,” said Douglas Hall resident George Deckinga. “Even if there is a washer empty, all the dryers are full because people leave their clothes in them.”

Deckinga is a sophomore physical science major who will be returning to Douglas Hall in the fall. He said he is now excited about the new laundry room.

“This will cause a lot of headaches for a lot of people to go away,” he said.