Gators could have access to the former site of Caflisch Hall as soon as Finals Week, according to college officials. The lot has been off-limits since the dormitory was demolished in August 2023 due to low student interest and high operational costs.
Given that the site’s soil was churned over during demolition, it has taken some time for the ground to “re-compact” and not sink when someone steps on it, according to Director of Physical Plant Joe Michael.
“Unfortunately with such a mild winter there was a lot of freezing and thawing, so the ground was still ‘soft’; in areas,” Michael wrote via text message Tuesday. “There were a couple of spots that if someone walked or stood there they would sink about 7 inches. We walked to (the) site yesterday and most of those locations have been remedied. There are still a couple of ‘soft spots’ but the ground sinks (or compresses) less than an inch.”
With the ground “settled,” Michael said the hope is to take the fences around the Caflisch site down by next week, opening it up for student use.
“For now, the Caflisch site will remain green space with the goal to expand activities from the gator quad to include Adirondack chairs and ‘yard games,’” Michael wrote, referring to the wooden chairs that dot campus. “No additional sidewalks will be installed at this point to study how the space is used by the Campus community.”
In September 2023, as contractors were removing the rubble of Caflisch, administrators sent out a survey seeking student input for what to do with the space. The responses, which Dean for the Student Experience Ian Binnington presented to the Allegheny Student Government in the first week of October, focused on outdoor features like hammock stands, a multi-use pavilion, athletic courts, firepits, picnic tables and a fountain.
“I actually think this all coheres into the general theme of the students that responded wanting a space to kind of relax, to hang out, to enjoy themselves in the outdoors,” Binnington told ASG on Oct. 3. “There is very little desire to simply have a new lawn.”
Binnington declined to comment for this story and referred The Campus to Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley, who Binnington said was more involved in site planning than he was.
Yeckley said that ASG President Nicole Recio Bremer, ’25, and Vice President Sam Ault, ’26, originally considered the site for an outdoor classroom space funded by ASG. However, Yeckley said Recio Bremer and Ault chose not to use Caflisch in favor of a different location on campus.
“They’ve decided to not put what their capital project is going to be on the Caflisch lot — instead, put it on the lot next to the library, the green space next to the library for noise reasons and for, kind of, safety reasons,” Yeckley said in an interview last week. “We didn’t necessarily want a big, you know, kind of outdoor-type thing right next to North Main Street.”
At the moment, there are no plans for a permanent replacement for Caflisch, Michael said — though when such designs are created, student input will be considered.
“I’ll be meeting with the new (ASG) administration over the summer, and this will be part of that conversation to make sure that students have input onto that,” Yeckley said. “It’s prime real estate on campus.”