CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Matt Smith wishes Hughes Hall didn’t exist.
On Friday, his wish will come true when Lee University demolishes the 42-year-old campus residence hall.
Hughes has long been engaged in a rivalry with nearby Medlin Hall, Mr. Smith said, adding that he learned about the friendly friction when he first moved in to Medlin.
“They told me, ‘The sky is blue, the grass is green and Medlin hates Hughes.’ That’s always been the way it is,” he said.
Cole Strong, administrative assistant to university President Paul Conn, said the building is being demolished to allow for more green space behind the school’s new $11 million science and math complex.
While the university loses 96 beds by demolishing Hughes, 108 new beds will be open for students this fall once several campus apartment projects are complete, Mr. Strong said.
Mr. Smith said he suggested to the school’s administration that the residence hall be razed on his personal blog post published Feb. 17, 2009.
“The building is old and falling apart. It’s not even old and holding up,” he said. “If you pull up the carpet on the third floor you can see a crack down to the second floor. … It probably isn’t safe.”
Shortly thereafter, Dr. Conn mentioned the possibility of demolishing Hughes Hall, according to the university’s student news media.
For the building’s final semester, Hughes residents were not required to fill out the traditional room condition reports, Mr. Smith said.
“The residential life staff has been keeping the guys from tearing apart the building themselves,” he said. “They all want to tear it down since they’re all generally destructive people.”
Former Hughes resident Tanner Scalf said residents pulled curtains from the shower stalls in the hall’s community bathroom and turned up the music.
“They replaced the bulbs with black lights, positioned a strobe light at the end of the showering room, and they apparently had these little shower rave parties,” he said.
In the final days, residents held a huge “end-of-Hughes” bash, resident Jessie Hitchcock said.
“We were allowed to tag the walls with spray paint,” he said. “We brought it out with a bang.”
Some students wrote Scripture on the walls, Mr. Hitchcock said, while others wrote inside jokes about memories from the dorm.
Phil Cook, Lee’s assistant vice president for enrollment, said he had fun living in Hughes for three years from 1988-1991.
“It’s bittersweet; there are a lot of memories like mine from hundreds or thousands of guys,” he said. “Fortunately, the memories won’t die when the building comes down. We’ll keep those forever.”
Assistant Vice President for Student Life Mike Hayes said he made friends he still has today when he lived in Hughes from 1985 until 1987.
WHAT’S NEXTLee University officials said Hughes Hall will be demolished on Friday and they will announce the time later.
“I’m a little nostalgic about it, but I think it being razed is actually symbolic of the institutional growth; we’re moving forward,” he said.
Mr. Hitchcock said he and most Hughes residents will be moving into B.L. Hicks Hall across campus next semester.
Mr. Smith said he won’t be on campus when the building comes down, but he’s still anticipating the event.
“It’s kind of like the Berlin Wall,” he said. “You don’t have to watch it fall to appreciate its absence.”