Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Alex Reside / Daily Vidette Senior Staff President Al Bowman gives his remarks on the decommissioning of Walker and Dunn-Barton residence halls to make way for a new student recreation center.

Friday afternoon, students, staff and alumni gathered in the central campus mini quad to say goodbye to 167,558 square feet of history and memories.

Dunn-Barton and Walker Halls were officially decommissioned on Friday, and the ceremony to honor them featured current students and prominent alumni sharing the memories of their time spent in those residence halls.

Illinois State Senator Dan Rutherford was one such alumnus. He spoke about his time spent in Walker Hall in the 1970s. "I had the pleasure to live here for three years," Rutherford said. "And I thought long and hard about how far I was going to push the envelope on these stories."

Rutherford went on to explain the fond recollections he had about locking his friends in their rooms and removing the speaker from the phone so they couldn't call out, as well as when the new phenomenon of streaking found its way to ISU.

"I can tell you that ISU's first streakers were Walker residents," Rutherford said.

The residence hall's reputation of wild and crazy behavior was a recurring theme throughout the ceremony. Even President Bowman acknowledged this in his address to the audience.

"These dorms have housed approximately 47,000 students over the years, and that is not including the hundreds of students that were undoubtedly snuck in," he said.

Rutherford embraced the residence hall's raucous reputation, even as a prominent public figure.

"Whenever I travel, sometimes someone comes up to me and says they remember me from Walker Hall. I then think to myself 'There goes a good political career down the drain,'" he said.

The ceremony culminated in the passing of the key ceremony, where a large key inscribed with the date of the decommissioning was given to President Bowman by Amy Vito, student president of central campus residence government.

The key will be displayed at the new Student Fitness and Kinesiology and Recreation Center that will be built where the residence halls now stand.

"Central campus has had a special place in my heart ever since I moved in my freshman year," Vito said. "Half of me is really sad to see this go, but at the same time you can help students realize there are lots of residents that are really supportive and looking forward to the future."

Also in attendance was John Scott, the grandson of Richard Dunn, for whom Dunn Hall is named. Dunn was a revolutionary in drafting a bill that allowed residence halls to be built through the sale of bonds rather than state funding.

"[Dunn] met his future wife here at Old Main, which is not even here anymore," Scott explained. "So in terms of progress and things moving forward, I don't think he would have been surprised that it's time to move on."

Bowman explained that he also met his wife in Dunn Hall and that those kinds of memories will keep the residence halls alive forever.

"As we say goodbye to two cherished friends, we also embrace the memories of Dunn-Barton and Walker Halls," he said.

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