PHOTO VIA CHANGE.ORG

This is how marketing officials at Chatham University described the student dormitory at Eden Hall, the university’s fully sustainable campus in Richland.

“It’s unlike any other residence hall in the region, maybe the world. When students arrive at Orchard Hall every August, the rolling hills and lush woodlands envelop it in a green calm. In fall, the warm colors of autumn beckon them to explore the apple orchard and smell the dry leaves in the cool air. When the trees are mostly bare in the winter, it’s sometimes possible to look through the branches and see the skyline of the city kissing the horizon. The blossoms of spring inspire daydreams of the future.”

Orchard Hall, which opened in 2015 and was built to house 60 students in single-room dorms and suites, also is fully sustainable and ADA-accessible. But the dorm has never reached capacity, with occupancy hovering between fewer than 15, and at its peak 40 students, university officials said. That’s despite the fact that more than 160 students are enrolled in the Falk School, which holds classes on the Eden Hall campus.

Because the university says it is losing money on Orchard Hall, Chatham officials notified students on July 1 that they are closing the building, effective for the 2024-25 school year and shifting all occupants to housing at its main Shadyside campus. It will continue to run shuttles between the campuses.

Rachel Coyne, a rising sophomore in environmental science who attends classes at Eden Hall, immediately posted a change.org petition on behalf of a student collective to try to keep the building open. She said many students are committed to Chatham’s Eden Hall campus because of its sustainability.

 “It’s a betrayal to the student body that they are closing” Orchard Hall, she said in an interview Wednesday. 

By Wednesday afternoon the petition had collected more than 500 signatures.

Lisa Lambert, Chatham vice president for academic affairs who signed the email to students about the closing, said the university had forecast just 25 to 30 students signing up to live in Orchard Hall this coming school year, despite discounts provided. 

“We do not make this decision lightly and acknowledge the impact this will have on the students who chose Orchard hall and this residential experience,” she wrote.

This is not the first budget issue at Chatham. Last year, Chatham launched a campus-wide reorganization that required some staff cuts, department consolidations and other restructuring in the face of a looming $8 million to $12 million deficit. 

Lambert said the closing of Orchard Hall creates an opportunity to discuss other uses for the building, such as overnight accommodations for events, meetings, conferences or summer camps. 

The announcement comes months after long-awaited plans for a multi-generational Rachel Carson Eco-Village on the same campus lost its location and will now be built at Providence Heights, land owned by the Sisters of Divine Providence next to LaRoche University.

Bill Campbell, vice president of marketing and communications at Chatham, said the change in plans for the eco-village are unrelated to the closing of Orchard Hall. He said the plans ultimately did not work out at Eden Hall. “We are happy for their new home which meets their guidelines and residents’ needs.”