By J.D. Eddy, Editorial Editor
Ament Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus, and if you are an athlete at this school, you know a lot about it.
This is especially true for football players and some baseball players. When I transferred back to Northwestern from Southern Nazarene, most of the residents were football players, except for the third floor, which was occupied almost entirely by baseball players.
Other students lived there as well, even a few who did not play sports.
Now it houses cross-country, esports, baseball and football players. When I lived in Ament, about 50 student-athletes lived there.
At the time, the dorm had electrical issues. Power would go out in two adjoining rooms. However, there was no way for the students to flip the breaker back on.
If my neighbor and I used a microwave at the same time, it would cause both of us to lose power in our rooms. This happened one time at about 8 p.m. We didn’t have power until the next day at 12 p.m.
Having to put in a work order for someone to come flip a switch is tedious.
Ament Hall finished construction in 1965, which was shortly after the start of the Vietnam War. When the Vietnam War was at its peak in 1968, enrollment at Northwestern was 2,614, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The college had new dorms to accommodate the influx of students. According to the university website, Northwestern has an undergraduate enrollment of 1,640 (1,844 total); 468 students are considered part-time or virtual learning students, and 193 are graduate students. This is just to give some perspective on the number of students enrolled at Northwestern.
Because of coed living, the dorm is holding more residents than it has.
However, it is the only dorm that has not been renovated in recent years. This summer, the building had a new roof put on in order to maintain the integrity of the dorm itself.
Now, that is a step in the right direction, but there is more that should be changed to make the dorm better. South Hall is under construction, and Fryer Hall was renovated to accommodate new students in 2015. Coronado Hall has had a partial renovation as well.
Now, I have talked about the wiring issues in Ament, but there are more problems. There are not enough dryers in Ament to accommodate the number of students who live there now.
When the number of students did not exceed 50, it made sense. But now, there seems to be an issue.
I am not trying to bash anyone, but I want to inform people about the state of this dorm. It is not the greatest place on campus to live, but the upside is the custodial crew does an excellent job of keeping the bathrooms clean. It is one of the dorms on campus that doesn’t make the students provide their own toilet paper.
To bring a positive light to the situation and show that there are upsides to living in Ament, I can honestly say Ament is the most fun dorm to live in because of the people there.
South Hall’s renovation is almost complete, and while that is good, we cannot forget about the only dorm on campus that needs a facelift.
If you’re reading this and agree with me, voice your opinion about it. Write a letter to the Northwestern News and talk to the administration. Those of us here at the newspaper would like to hear what you have to say about things around campus that affect you as a student.