For the residents and staff of Thomas Hall, the past two weeks have been business as usual—except for the addition of female residents for the first time in its history. 

At the end of the Spring 2012 semester, University Housing and Dining Services decided the hall would be co-ed beginning this fall because of the higher demand for co-ed housing on campus.

Randall Bogard, the area director for Andrews and Thomas halls, said the one major change besides the presence of females in the building is that residents seem a lot calmer than in past years and there is “a lot less craziness.”

Sally Adams, the first female associate residence director of the hall, said the whole thing does not seem like that big of a deal to her because it is all she has ever known.

“Just the other day, it kind of dawned on me when Lou (Hencken) said something in class about how he isn’t used to thinking of Thomas with a female ARD,” Adams said. “It’s been pretty calm and not anything I wouldn’t expect with the position.”

The Thomas Hall council has also changed by adding female residents to its ranks.

Grant Watts, a senior history major, Thomas Hall desk assistant and hall council president, said he was weary of the change when it was first announced, but now that the change has occurred, he hardly notices.

“It is different working with both guys and gals and nice to get the new opinions,” he said. “In terms of hall council, we currently have one girl on our executive board and are working to make the activities more balanced this year, focusing more on education and diversity.”

With the new year firmly in place, its staff, including Bogard and Adams, have two new mottos for their residents: “New Look, New Year, New Attitude” and  “Thomas Hall S.W.A.G.” 

S.W.A.G stands for success while achieving greatness.

“We want our residents to think about what they want to do this year,” Bogard said. “ And achieve bigger things than they ever thought they could.”

Upon hearing the news of the co-ed change last year, Bogard was quoted in The Daily Eastern News article “Thomas Hall anticipates co-ed change.”

“I am ecstatic about the new Thomas Hall,” Bogard said. “In regards to the program, I think that we will be seeing a lot more ideas from our female co-residents, a newer way to look at some things.’”

Now that the change has occurred, Bogard has similar sentiments regarding the issue.

“I haven’t done the breakdown of our numbers, but it is about even, and I think things are going to run similarly to years past,” Bogard said, “It doesn’t feel that different, except now we get to know more students.”

Thomas Hall is separated into three female floors and four male floors.

Amy Wywialowski can 

be reached at 581-2812 

or alwywialowski@eiu.edu