As Quadrangle construction inches toward completion and the four current college houses merge into three, a new decision has recently been reached -- the names of the three new residences.
What is currently Upper Quad will become Woodland College House come next fall, Lower Quad will be Ware and Baby Quad will be Spruce.
The names, finalized this month, were decided upon by college house staff in conjunction with the Residential Advisory Board, a student group comprised of representatives from the various college houses.
"We were looking for names that were related to the general Penn campus and the place where the houses were located," College Houses and Academic Services Director David Brownlee said.
According to Brownlee, the current Spruce College House's name was used as a "model" for coming up with the Woodland name -- named after Woodland Walk as Spruce is named after the street.
The Ware name was kept due to its "long and historical significance at Penn," Brownlee said, noting that Ware has been a college house for 30 years.
According to Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Residential Advisory Board, the new college house names were selected to foster Penn's ties with the surrounding community. And for a much simpler reason as well -- they sounded good.
"We wanted something that would speak to Penn's connection to the local community," the College senior said. "We thought about names of local rivers but thought nobody would want to live in Schuylkill House."
The new names "just sound like places you would want to live in," she continued. "Places that should be a part of the Penn community."
Board member Michael Pezzicola said that the nature of the new college house names should make the adjustment easier.
"They're names that will help ease the transition since they are geographic names," said the Wharton and Engineering senior, who is also a student representative to the Quad Renovation Committee.
Most current residents of the Quad did not express a strong opinion toward the new name selections.
"I'm indifferent to the change, probably because I've only been here for two months," said College freshman Ankeet Udani, a current resident of Spruce College House.
"I don't really have any opinion, positive or negative," Engineering freshman Jocelyn D'Ambrosio said. "Things can't stay the same forever."
But Brownlee remains excited about the new names, since they signal that Quad construction is nearing completion.
"We're in the home stretch," he said. "The houses and house councils have been asked to begin thinking about next year. It's finally coming to a conclusion."
