Responding to a high demand from students seeking drug and alcohol-free free living, Dickinson will dedicate Todd House as the new Substance-Free House next year. It will replace Kisner-Woodward’s tower A third floor, which will go back into the housing lottery. The move will accommodate almost double the number of students.

Tori Campbell, the area coordinator of special interest houses of Resident Life, said “we have anywhere from four to six people throughout the year” on a waitlist for substance-free housing. 

Grace MacDougall ‘24, the upcoming Todd House liaison (formerly known as house manager), has lived in substance-free housing for the last two years. She said that she very much appreciated the quiet and the lack of smell pollution that the substance-free space offers. 

“We make it very clear and upfront that it is Substance Free Housing and people choose to live substance free for a variety of reasons,” said MacDougall, “so we are thankful to have the space where we can continue our studies while living in a lifestyle that supports us.”

ResLife made the change also to allow students in substance-free housing to have “the space to create this kind of home-grown community,” said Campbell, which is hard to do in a traditional dorm setting. MacDougall also said having an entire building “will be easier to have social events and better create a community which is what specialty housing is all about.”

“Todd House has historically been a special interest house. It kind of rotated through what houses had been there in the past,” said Campbell. However, since 2018, it has been in the housing lottery and filled by the normal lottery process.

Campbell said that the change had been a project for two years, but will be implemented during the 2023-2024 academic year. She also said ResLife had done “preliminary polling” and found that the students in substance-free housing, the upcoming and current house liaisons were all on board with the change.

To advertise the new special interest house, Campbell said ResLife had been putting up flyers in the HUB and sending emails to eligible students. MacDougall said she also relied on word of mouth and tenants currently living in substance-free housing.

The current substance-free space can house 14 students, while Todd House can hold 25. Because of the jump in housing space, Campbell said she would step in this year to make sure Todd House is full and running. According to MacDougall, the number of applications “have been really great” so far.

“If they have the house full and there are still students trying to get into it, I’m not opposed to give them a bigger space because I want them to have that safety that comes with the substance-free [housing],” said Campbell when being asked about a potential change in the near future. “But it’s not on my timeline, unless the students request it, I think Todd House is the next step for the next couple of years.”

Substance-Free House is not the only substance-free space on campus. Some special interest houses choose to be substance-free or party-free, depending on the students who move in, said Campbell.