whitman college dorm tour

The Residential Campus

Residence halls and houses are designed to assist students to succeed academically and develop personally. Residential living is an integral part of the Whitman educational experience. All unmarried undergraduate students who are under 21 years of age at the start of each semester and have not yet lived on campus for four semesters are required to live on campus. No designated family housing is available on campus.

Students may select from a variety of residences. With the exception of Prentiss Hall, all residential facilities house students of all genders. On-campus housing options include: Anderson Hall, for 137 students; William O. Douglas Hall, for 70 students in suites of eight students each; Prentiss Hall, for 145 women including members of Whitman’s four national sororities as well as women not affiliated with a sorority, housed in two-room doubles; College House provides apartment-style living with kitchen facilities for 35 students; Jewett Hall houses 154 students; Lyman House has two-room suites for 91 students; and Stanton Hall, housing 150 sophomore students in mostly single rooms.

Eleven interest houses offer unique learning opportunities. Language houses, such as French, Japanese, Hispanic Studies, and German, further the academic and cultural interests of students studying a foreign language. Approximately six to nine students reside in each house. Other interest houses are the Multi-Cultural House, which fosters cross-cultural communication and understanding; the Environmental House, focusing on environmental and ecological issues; the Fine Arts House, which promotes programs emphasizing studio, theatrical, and musical arts; the Wellness House which focuses on the 8 dimensions of wellness; the Asian Studies House, which promotes understanding of Asian culture and issues; the Writing House, which provides resources to encourage the growth of writing as a discipline; and the Community Service House encourages discussions of service issues among students and the Whitman community and includes a community service requirement.

Four national fraternities maintain chapter houses near the campus. Each has its own dining, sleeping, study, and recreational facilities.

Just as it is important to live on campus, it is equally important to dine on campus. Dining on campus helps to integrate students into the campus community. It provides the opportunity for sections to spend time together, contributes to community within the halls, and allows further opportunity for students to interact with faculty outside the classroom. During the fall of 2018, a new central dining facility, Cleveland Commons, opened for the whole campus community supplemented by other, smaller dining options on campus. In addition, Jewett Hall has a café with breakfast and lunch options as well as a coffee bar. Reid Campus Center also has a small marketplace for students and community members.  Students who live in the residence halls are required to subscribe to a board plan (see exceptions under “Board” in the Charges section). Students living off-campus are encouraged to eat in college dining halls and may subscribe to one of several board plans.

While it is difficult for the college to provide highly specialized diets in the dining halls, Bon Appétit (the college’s food service provider) as well as the Health Center will work with students who have dietary concerns. There are vegetarian and vegan alternatives at every meal. Any student, on-or off-campus, may purchase a meal plan.

Whitman Wire

• Front Page Slideshow

A look into Lyman

Amelia Leach , Feature reporter March 10, 2022

The little red wagon that greets you upon entering Lyman was purchased with wholesome and practical intent: it’s a sustainable, convenient grocery-carrying method. First-year Laura Merick, owner of the wagon, frequently uses it to haul groceries for her extravagant baking endeavors.

Any Lymanite, including senior Emma Foley*, can attest to Merick’s cooking talent. Foley was one of Lyman’s RAs last semester, and spoke to the warm, approachable nature of the hall.

“It was always so nice going on my rounds because people were really friendly and I got offered a lot of baked goods,” Foley said.

When Lyman residents, or Lymanites, talk about their dorm, most of them mention this lively sense of community. But around campus, many people still think of Lyman as quiet, reclusive and socially dead —a longtime stereotype. Why?

In promotional material, like the Whitman dorm tour videos and Our Whitman Instagram account, Lyman gets labeled a peaceful environment, perfect for studying. Its charming, quaint exterior and distance from the main hubs of campus have pigeonholed Lyman into this reputation —but it’s one that is becoming increasingly inaccurate . 

“You always hear the stereotype that Lyman is quiet and kind of keeps to itself,” Foley said. “I was expecting more of that.”

True, Lyman’s divided doubles probably make it more appealing to those who appreciate having their own space. The general populace of Lyman is likely on the more introverted side. The general assumption that Lyman residents enjoy “nerdy” activities like League of Legends and Magic the Gathering is not entirely wrong, either —there’s plenty of this in the main lounge at all hours of the day.

However, my fall semester in Lyman House taught me that a space with mostly introverts does not necessarily make a quiet environment and that the campus perception of Lyman does not even come close to capturing the full picture. 

Take Merick’s red wagon: in addition to aiding in wholesome baking hauls, it’s been known to pull friends across Ankeny Field, its riders taking a chance on the 70-pound weight limit. Like any other first-year dorm, Lyman is full of quintessential college antics.

First-year student and current Lyman resident Nathan Wesselius remembered an eventful Halloween, one of his favorite memories from living in Lyman. Residents put tons of effort into their costumes and had a fun night complete with going out and watching movies back in the main lounge —a classic, well-rounded Lyman night. A few weeks earlier, right around midterms, a group of Lymanites smashed pumpkins on Ankeny to relieve stress. The stress stuck around, so they took to screaming out on Ankeny every night.

Expecting Lyman to be quiet and chill made me ill-prepared for its rowdiness last semester. Sophomore Jack Ray, former Lyman resident, had similar expectations going into his first year.

“I saw myself as an introvert before college so I requested what I thought was the quietest dorm,” Ray said. Lyman soon “awakened” a more social, wild side of him.

Ray lived in the Tower, which underclassmen may know to be close-knit and rambunctious—like Lyman, but on a smaller scale and turned up a notch. Separated from the other two sections by a wall, the Tower is somewhat isolated from the rest of Lyman. 

Last spring, when COVID-19 restrictions were more intense, Tower residents formed each other’s primary social circle.

Ray described living in the Tower last spring as “chaotic.” Everyone’s room was the site of late-night antics at some point or another, and it felt like living with a bunch of friends—no drama, just fun. 

“The Tower definitely seems more chill now,” he said of this year’s cohort.

Not quite. Lyman Tower has actually maintained its liveliness. A couple of weeks ago, a current Tower resident performed an ill-advised gravity experiment from the third-floor balcony. He wishes to remain anonymous, but described his thought process in detail.

“I looked over the balcony,” he recounted, “and I’ve thought this multiple times: can I clear this? Like, if I hang and drop?”

He indeed hung and dropped, which caused quite a ruckus in Lyman. The fallen first-year laid flat on his back, and concerned Lymanites surrounded him. After a moment he declared that he was fine and, to everyone’s surprise, stood up and walked away. 

For the rest of the night, fellow Lyman residents came to check in on him, much to his appreciation. 

“Even people I didn’t know very well just wanted to make sure I was okay,” he said. “It’s a good community.”

This spirit of community is integral to Lyman —residents value the importance of checking up on each other and being there for their friends, even when they make questionable choices like jumping off balconies. Lymanites look out for one another.

Jewett has secured the reputation of Most Social Dorm and for good reason. Still, Lyman may have an equally active social scene, just in a different way.

“It’s nice that you don’t necessarily have to know what everyone is doing,” he said. “You can just kind of go down to the lounge and see what everyone is up to and join,” Wesselius said. 

Zac Bentz, a junior and former Lyman RA, loved this aspect of his fall RA experience.

“The way communal spaces are used and the sense of love shared among everybody—the things that had always made Lyman really special—were suddenly a lot more prominent ,” said Bentz. 

Benz, who lived in Lyman during his first year, said that Lyman’s close-knit community made the idea of adapting to life at Whitman not so daunting. That community has certainly held up. During my first semester, the connections that I made were rare and fulfilling, made possible by welcoming Lymanites.

Here’s another layer, though: this semester, divisions have begun to form in this unified community. Some see this as the natural formation of smaller friend groups, but others are attributing the Lyman Split to other things.

“We went back into isolation after winter break so everyone stuck in their groups that they’d been texting over break,” first-year Erin Berger said. She characterizes this development as “eh,” noting that it has the potential to make people feel excluded. She misses the unity of first-semester Lyman, when common spaces were heavily populated and everyone did everything together.

Lymanites’ reaction to the formation of friend groups speaks to its open, friendly community. In every other first-year hall, insular friend groups form immediately, and no one seems to consider the downsides. In Lyman, this splitting up feels like a massive shift, and the desire to remain one big family encapsulates Lyman’s uniquely social, caring atmosphere.

Still, Berger recognizes that some separation is natural as the year progresses and people find their niches.

As evidenced above, no simple description can encapsulate Lyman. It is not merely nerdy and quiet, nor is it just a rowdy party dorm. Lyman is both of these things and so much more — it’s made unique and wonderful by its silly, sweet and special community. It feels to me exactly how Bentz described it:

“When you enter Lyman you feel like you are entering a very loved and lived-in space,” Bentz said.

This is exactly how it felt last semester to return from East Isaacs at one in the morning. The board game club and other Lymanites would greet my friends and me, then we’d follow the delicious smell of food to the main lounge and catch the end of whatever anime was playing on the projector that night. Lyman is many things, but above all it is a lively, well-loved home.

*Emma Foley is the Managing Editor of The Wire. 

• Residence Halls

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BREAKING: Students and faculty protest outside Board of Trustees’ dinner, demand divestment

Whitman’s Love Language: Situationships & Commitment Issues

Whitsquatch brings Tacos, Bands and Dancing to Ankeny

Whitman Tuition Too Cheap, Students Too Loaded

CAMPUS LIFE

Cleaning up our acts: The moldy truth about res hall bathrooms

Architects display design plans for proposed construction

New Dining Hall, Sophomore Residence Hall, and Upperclassmen Apartments in the Works

Dining Halls Divide Students

Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Response to ‘Residence Life Shuts Down Camp Whitman’

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Admitted Students Campus Visit

We’re excited to welcome our newly admitted students (Congratulations!) and their families to campus this spring for visits. You’ll love it here—and we look forward to showing you what makes Whitman so special. If you're visiting after May 17, register here .

Make Your Visit Your Own! When you arrive on campus, you’ll have the opportunity to explore and experience Whitman through a number of activities. You and your family can take a student-led campus tour and/or sit in on an information session with an Admission Officer to learn more about Whitman.  In addition, visiting students can choose to have a meal with a current student in our amazing dining hall, Cleveland Commons, and attend one or more classes. (We recommend attending no more than two classes.) Family members and other guests can eat on their own either in the dining hall or explore one of the nearby downtown restaurants. Whitman staff and students are happy to share our top picks with you! Only have a morning or afternoon to spend on campus? That's no problem. Want to take the whole day to explore? We have options for that too. It's your day to plan! To register for a campus visit, select a date using the calendar.  Please note: Meals and overnight visits with current students and class visits are not available during Whitman's Spring Break, March 11-22. 

Meetings With Admission Officers Our admission officers would love to sit down and have an individual conversation with you and your family while you are visiting campus. Our admission officers are happy to answer questions around next steps, campus life, academics, and/or financial aid. If you're on a tight time frame and can't quite make a meeting work, no worries—just email your admission officer and they can set up a virtual meeting with you at a point that works for you both!

If you have any questions, contact the Campus Visit Coordinator at (509) 527-5176 or [email protected] .  

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Anderson Hall — Residence Hall — Virtual Tour

What does anderson hall look like at whitman college.

Anderson Hall is a first-year residence hall at Whitman College that houses around 140 students. The furniture inside the dorm room can be moved around so students can change the layout however they want it to look. There is a bed, a desk, and plenty of storage space provided for students. The hall has a main lounge where students can hang out as well as section lounges. Students have access to the laundry facilities and the rec room in the hall. There is also access to Stanton, Cleveland, and the beach volleyball courts. Plan a Whitman College virtual tour.

Hey everyone, my name is Cloud Spearman and I am a senior Anthropology major here at Whitman College.

Welcome to Anderson Hall. Anderson Hall is one of our 3 all-first-year halls on campus. It houses around 140 students. Let's take a look inside. This is what a typical room in Anderson looks like. All of the furniture you see here can be moved around, so you can have your room however you'd like. The students here have decided to have the beds pushed up against the sides of the wall, with their desks at the end of the bed. There are tons of storage spaces so you have plenty of space for all of your things.

Right now, we're in the main hang-out area which is the main lounge of Anderson. Anderson has easy access to hang out with friends over in Stanton, grab a quick bite to eat in Cleveland or play a game on the beach volleyball courts.

Let's go check out a section lounge. There are 6 different sections in Anderson and each section has its own section lounge that looks like this. It's a nice place to come and cook or bake with your friends, or sit down and have a study session with everyone. The space gets used a lot for different events. Your resident assistant will put on different dinners or tea times to bring everyone together from the section.

This is the laundry room and it has 8 washers and 10 dryers. One of the coolest things is that laundry is totally free at Whitman.

Right now, we're in the rec room which is one more place where Andersonians love to hang out. You can play ping-pong, foosball, or pool. There's also a TV where you can watch your favorite shows or stream your favorite movies.

Thanks for taking the tour of Anderson with us. I'm excited to see you around.

Princeton University

2024 Princeton University Dorm Tours and Info

What percent of freshman live on campus.

According to our research, 100.0% of freshman live on campus at Princeton University ?

What type of housing does Princeton University provide?

The below table outlines the different housing options available at Princeton University , and how what percent of students are estimated to live in each type of university housing.

What are the dorms like at Princeton University ?

You’ll have to watch the CampusReel videos to see for sure. However, Princeton University dorms are similar to most college housing options. Most on-campus residence halls include singles, double, and suites. Floor plans vary from residence hall to residence hall. CampusReel hosts dorm tours of Princeton University , and every one is different. As you’ll see, every dorm room is decorated in a unique and fun way - students are creative with their setups to make Princeton University feel like home!

• Princeton University Dorm at Princeton University
• Whitman College Dorm at Princeton University

What are the dimensions of Princeton University dorm rooms?

The Princeton University dorms dimension depend on the residence hall. This information is usually contained in one of the dorm room tours of Princeton University on CampusReel. Supposedly the average dorm room size in the U.S. is around 130 square feet, and Princeton University likely has dorms bigger and smaller than this.

Check out these related virtual tours:

• Check out these related dorm tours Georgetown University
• Check out these related dorm tours Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
• Check out these related dorm tours Columbia University in the City of New York

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Residence Life for New Students

130 Memorial Hall Whitman College 345 Boyer Avenue Walla Walla, WA 99362 Phone: 509-527-5297 Fax: 509-527-5859 E-mail Residence Life

Welcome to the Whitman College Residence Life & Housing Office home page for newly enrolled students. It's time for you to start thinking about what it means to live away from home and enter a Residence Hall community. Hopefully, this page will help you find the resources you need to join us on campus prepared for a successful college career and a trouble-free transition to residence hall living. We have compiled all of the information we think you might need before you move to the Whitman campus, but if you have any other questions, just give us a call!

Nancy Tavelli, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life and Housing Andrew Johnson, Associate Director of Residence Life and Housing Monica Mitchell, Housing Coordinator and Admin Assistant Cory Kiesz, Custodial Supervisor

Where Should You Live?

First-Year students have four residence hall options on the Whitman campus, including co-ed space and space for women only. Upon admittance, you received a Residence Life brochure and Roommate Assignment Questionnaire. As a first-year student, you may preference any of the four following halls:

Anderson Hall - A traditional college residence hall housing 140 first-year residents. Anderson is co-ed by section and features traditional shared-room doubles and triples.

Jewett Hall - This traditional residence hall houses close to 180 first-year students. Jewett is co-ed by section and features traditional shared-room doubles and triples.

Lyman House - An old-fashioned residence hall housing 99 students in two-room suite doubles and triples. Lyman is also co-ed.

Prentiss Hall - An all-women's residence hall for about 150 women, including three sorority sections. Prentiss is a mixed-class hall with room for around 55 first-year students.

Who will I meet when I arrive at Whitman?

Living at Whitman College does not mean living without the guidance and support of experienced community leaders. Each residence hall has a staff of student affairs professionals and upperclass students to help ease your transition to college.

Each hall is lead by a Resident Director (RD) , a professional staff member who manages the hall, supervises the student staff, and is responsible for social and educational programming within the hall, as well as judicial procedures for residents.

Prentiss Hall and Anderson hall also have a  Senior Resident (SR) , an upperclass student who assists the RD and helps oversee the other staff members.

Each section has a Resident Assistant (RA) who can answer questions ranging from hall policy to lost keys, but who mostly just wants to get know his or her residents and talk to them about anything from getting along with a roommate to what to do in Walla Walla and how to make the most of the Whitman experience.

These staff members work together as a team along with the the rest of the Student Affairs professionals and faculty advisors on campus to make sure each first-year student receives the support and advice they need to ensure a strong social and academic beginning to their Whitman career.

If I Have Questions, Who Do I Ask?

It's perfectly okay to have questions as you transition to college life and we will be happy to answer them for you. If you can't find the information you need in our Frequently Asked Questions , please e-mail Residence Life or call us at 509-527-5297. Your residence hall's staff will be available to answer last minute questions upon your arrival on campus.

Other Helpful Links

FAQ - Living at Whitman - Living with a Roommate

Residence Hall Living: The Sequel - Residence Hall Agreement