Residents of Santa Ana dorm bade the dorm farewell Wednesday evening.
It will be demolished this summer. The demolition is part of the first phase of new main campus housing renovations, and Santa Ana Community Association President David Ishmael said the goodbye party was bittersweet.
“I have mixed feelings,” he said. “I’m sad that the community is going to be disrupted again, but at the same time, I respect the need for the University to invest in more student housing.”
Ishmael said he enjoyed his time as a resident of Santa Ana and planned to live there next semester until he heard about the dorm’s impending demolition.
Residents painted their handprints across the walls in the dorm to commemorate their time as residents and made signs that called the demolition “D-Day.”
“It’s sad,” dorm resident Doug Breen said. “We’ve had a lot of good memories here, but we know it has to happen.”
Breen said the new housing plans look nice and will benefit the University, but he is disappointed about the loss of his dorm.
“I think it’s a little intrusive,” he said.
Residence Life Director Patrick Call attended the event and said Santa Ana has been part of UNM residence life for 45 years and more than 8,000 students have lived there.
The dorm was built as a women-only dorm in 1965, and Residence Life Manager Wayne Sullivan said it was the most restricted dorm on main campus.
“Men were only allowed certain visiting hours, and they had to be escorted,” Sullivan said at the event. “There were sensors on all the doors, so if anyone left after hours the staff would know.”
The dorm evolved to be the co-ed dorm it is today, featuring both single and double rooms.
Part of D parking lot, two SRC buildings, lower Johnson Field and the tennis courts will also be demolished with Santa Ana in the summer.
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