It's the first day of college for freshman Sri Raghavan. He walks through the sliding glass doors of the Residence on Fifth, Carnegie Mellon's newest student housing for the Pittsburgh campus. Raghavan can't quite believe what he sees. "The place looks like a hotel," he says. Raghavan's parents, helping their son carry his belongings to his room, are equally impressed. Five stories high at 4700 Fifth Avenue, the former hospice for a local hospital has air conditioning, fireplaces, an around-the-clock service desk, several lounges, a piano room, an exercise room, and a club room. There is also a mezzanine level equipped with theater-style reclining chairs with cup holders and a flat-screen television. Of course, the building has complete access to wireless Internet.
Once in his room, Raghavan, from Houston, Texas, settles in quickly, unpacking in the suite-style dorm room where he and his two roommates share a bedroom and adjacent bathroom, as well as a living room with kitchenette. Saying good-bye to his parents, he chats with new friends congregated in the first-floor lounge, which flanks the entrance, and is opposite the piano room. They play board games for a while before eventually making their way to the comfort of the mezzanine-level entertainment room. Once school is in full swing, the room will be ideal to practice PowerPoint presentations, but for now it's just a place to hang out and talk with other first-year students assigned to the dorm.
All of them agree that they really lucked out. Their enthusiasm prompts an idea. "Let's take the Fence!" which every Carnegie Mellon student past and present knows is the best way to proclaim anything on the Pittsburgh campus. One of the dorm's resident advisors happens to be a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which is holding The Fence at the time. The RA arranges for a handoff. More than 50 dorm residents show up at the midnight to 6 a.m. Fence painting. The color-hot pink, which is the dorm's color during freshman orientation. In the spirit of dorm competition, Raghavan dyes his short-cropped hair the same shade.
The new coed dorm houses 93 students and has enabled the university to reduce the number of rental properties in the Oakland area for incoming students. Raghavan is more than happy with the university's $7.5 million purchase of the building. Although the special, hotel-like feeling of the place vanishes in a few days. Instead, he says, it just feels like home.
-Jonathan Barnes (HS'93)
