Dormitories
The official names for the dormitories of Harvey Mudd College are (listed in order of construction):
Mildred E. Mudd Hall ("East") - 1957
West Hall ("West") - 1958
North Hall ("North") - 1959
Marks Residence Hall ("South") - 1968
J. L. Atwood Residence Hall ("Atwood") - 1981
Case Residence Hall ("Case") - 1985
Ronald and Maxine Linde Residence Hall ("Linde") - 1993
Frederick and Susan Sontag Residence Hall ("Sontag") - 2004
Wayne and Julie Drinkward Residence Hall ("Drinkward") - 2015
Garrett House - completed in 1959 as the president's house, converted to a dorm in 2023
Until the addition of the Linde and Sontag dorms, Atwood and Case dorms were occasionally referred to as New Dorm and New Dorm II; Mildred E. Mudd Hall and Marks Hall are almost invariably referred to as East Dorm and South Dorm.
During the construction of Case Dorm some students decided as a prank to move all of the survey stakes exactly six inches in one direction.
"East" was the first dorm, but it wasn't until "West" was built west of it that it was actually referred to as "East". Then, "North" was built, directly north of "East". When the fourth dorm, Marks Hall, was built, there was one corner of the quad available (the northwest) and one directional name, "South", remaining. To this day, "South" dorm is the northernmost HMC inner dorm.
The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth dorms built are Atwood, Case, Linde, Sontag, and Drinkward, respectively. They were initially referred to as "the colonies" by some students, a reference to the fact that they were newer and at the farthest end of the campus; these dorms are now more commonly referred to as "the outer dorms", with the four directional dorms referred to as "the inner dorms". The college had initially purchased an apartment building adjacent to the newer dorms to house additional students, but it was demolished to make room for Sontag.
Since any HMC student, regardless of class year, can live in any of the dormitories, several of the dorms have accumulated long-standing traditions and so-called "personalities".
