New Northern Chumash-named Cal Poly dorms near completion
Cal Poly is putting the finishing touches on its much-anticipated new housing complex.
“It’s very exciting that we’re finishing up and that we’re actually going to hit the deadline and move our students in,” said Scott Bloom, Cal Poly Director of Housing/Director of Facilities Operations.
On Tuesday, the university held a media tour of the yakʔitʸutʸu residential community, giving local reporters and photographers a sneak-peak of the 436,000 square foot complex.
“It’s a traditional style residence hall,” said Juliette Duke, Cal Poly Director of Residential Student Experience. “So it means that students are in rooms and then they have a common bathroom that they share. The difference with this community is that our bathrooms are general inclusive, so anyone can use any bathroom with any community.”
The sprawling seven-building facility is located along Grand Avenue, right across the street from existing residential halls, Yosemite and Sierra Madre.
It’s the first community residential hall for first-year students to open on campus since Sierra Madre in 1973.
There are plenty of amenities awaiting incoming students. New Mustangs will enjoy a new campus welcome center, adjacent four-story parking structure, large open spaces for outdoor activities, study rooms, community rooms, serenity rooms, native plants garden, laundry facilities, common kitchen area and much more.
While the dorm rooms will be traditional in nature, the names of the buildings are anything but.
The university has partnered with the Northern Chumash yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini tribe to educate students and the community about their culture and language.
“We are honored to be working with the Northern Chumash in naming these communities and having their names on these buildings,” Duke said. “Their language has not been spoken in a long time and they’re revitalizing it.”
Since many of the names include punctuation that is not included in the English language, the university has started an wide-ranging outreach program to teach the correct pronunciation.
“We have had all of our university housing staff practicing the names,” Duke said. “All of our staff in meetings have been saying the names. We have had staff go out to all the different departments on campus. We have created videos online in how to say the names and we’re going to continue those efforts each year and throughout the years, so everyone gets comfortable in saying the names. We have shirts and we have a linguistics class and that’s part of their project in going around the campus in helping students say the names.”
Duke believes the outreach, along with time and patience, will eventually lead the names becoming commonplace.
“It’s like learning any other language,” said Duke. “Once you start saying it and practicing it, you get familiar with it.”
Each of the seven residential halls is named after a Chumash Tribal location on the Central Coast region.
The names are tsɨtkawayu (Cambria, place of the horses), elewexe (Paso Robles, named for swordfish), tšÉ¨Å‚kukunɨtš (Carrizo Plain, place of the rabbits), tiÅ‚hini (San Luis Obispo, place of the full moon), tsɨtqawɨ (Morro Bay, place of the dogs), nipumuÊ” (Nipomo, place of the big house) and tsɨtpxatu (Avila Beach)
The university emphasizes the residential facility doesn’t just celebrate diversity with the Northern Chumash names, it also heavily promotes inclusiveness with the design of the buildings.
Each residential room will house either two or four students. Floors will be mixed-gender, with residents sharing a commonplace all-gender bathroom.
Restrooms will include enhanced security features for privacy, including extra-tall doors and strips to block the space between partitions.
“All of the rooms are able to accomodate accessible needs, so we don’t have to select particular rooms to place students,” said Bloom. “They can be in any location within this facility, any floor, all of the restrooms are accommodating for disabilities.”
The $198 million project is guaranteed to be LEED certified and includes many features to conserve energy and water.
Students move in beginning on Sept. 14. Classes for the fall quarter begin on Sept. 20.
