Georgetown students, faculty and staff gathered outside the newly finished lobby of New South to rededicate the residence hall on Monday.
University President John J. DeGioia (CAS ‘79), who lived in New South as a sophomore and later as a Resident Assistant and Hall Director, spoke light-heartedly of his now realized efforts to improve his former home.
“I thought as an RA, I could make somehow improve things in New South.,” he said. “Nothing. As hall director, I thought, now I could improve things. Nothing. Then, as an administration, I thought, now I really could improve things. Nothing.”
The most visible symbol of the changes New South has undergone is the entrance. The former loading dock has been replaced with a new courtyard, and a new state-of-the-art lobby has replaced the former entrance, hidden away next to the Village A apartment complex.
“Before, we had bad carpeting, there were no overhead lights in the halls, there was no sprinkler system,” Ben Moscovitch (CAS ‘05), a former resident and the current RA on the third floor said. “The dynamics of the people in the building haven’t changed, though. It’s still a very social place.”
