As students left the dorms for winter break, Housing and Residence Life was doing some moving of its own.

They were moving into a dorm.

HRL completed its move to the basement of Southwest Hall on Dec. 16-18, after months of preparation. They began planning the move about 18 months ago when they were making plans to renovate the North, East, South and West halls. HRL purposely postponed the move, which affected about 14 staff members, until students were off campus so as not to be disruptive.

HRL was originally divided into two departments. When the departments combined, they were left located on two separate floors in Potter Hall. The move allowed the departments to combine their resources into one office space.

Kit Tolbert, Director of Housing Operations, felt the new location of HRL would be beneficial to students because it was more centralized and easy to access than the previous location.

“(This location) is much more convenient,” she said. “We’re all together now.”

HRL can now be accessed through a side door in the West side of Southwest Hall, facing Downing University Center. The space was previously used as eating facilities, a convenience store and a dance hall.

Louisville sophomore Stephen Cawthorn, a resident of Southwest Hall, agreed with Tolbert that the move will make dealing with HRL more convenient for students.

“It’s just a short walk for me to renew my housing now,” he said. “And when (students) camp out like they did last year at Potter, my roommate and I will have box seats to watch them all … “

Tolbert added that, although it would have been possible to convert the space into housing, it made more sense to make use of it for offices.

The space previously occupied by HRL is currently in the process of being renovated to make space for the Billings Department.

“The design of the office is more suitable for their business,” said Tolbert. “It allows them to have more window space.”

The area not used by the Billings Department will be converted into office space for the Vice President of Student Affairs and campus services, Gene Tice.

Tolbert said that, despite the move, the department has not encountered any major problems so far.

“We put up signs at Potter about the move and we have signs down here,” said Tolbert. “So far no one has had any problems finding us.”

Brian Kuster, director of Housing and Residence Life, refused to comment for this story.

Reach Clare Lowther at [email protected].