SU unexpectedly moved 20 students from Walnut Hall before fall semester
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After making her housing selection in the spring 2026 semester, Syracuse University sophomore Edina Pasic expected to live in Walnut Hall for the upcoming school year. Instead, she received notice from the university on July 28 informing her that wouldn’t be the case.
After calling the housing office, Pasic was told Walnut Hall — which typically houses 60 students — would only house 40 in the upcoming semester. Housing and Residential Living told Pasic that Walnut residents were moved to other halls, including DellPlain, to “maximize space,” she said.
“I just woke up one day to that email,” Pasic said. “I was a bit upset because I didn’t expect it.”
Pasic is one of multiple students who said they received the same email, obtained by The Daily Orange, just under a month before the start of the fall 2026 semester.
The email, sent from SU’s Housing portal, included a notice that students’ housing assignments had been updated as well as information about the specific dorm and room they’d been reassigned to.
“We understand that this may come as an inconvenience to you, but we hope that this new assignment will be suitable for your needs,” the email reads. “If you have any questions or concerns regarding your new housing assignment, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
In a statement to The D.O., an SU spokesperson said Housing and Residential Living reviews occupancy across on-campus residence halls over the summer, leading to decisions to transfer students to other “lower occupancy” buildings.
“The goal was to bring more students together rather than disperse them across sparsely populated buildings, which supports a stronger sense of safety, community and belonging for students living there,” the spokesperson said.
Sophomore roommates Mary Mason Ingold and Vivian Moon said the notification gave them no choice in their new placement.
“We didn’t have any say at all where we were moved to,” Moon said. “They pretty much just said, ‘You’re moving to DellPlain.’”
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Moon said she was upset when she received the notification, as the email offered students no context for the reassignment.
“It’s one thing if you as a student are baffled, but I remember my parents as well were shocked by the lack of communication,” Ingold said.
Pasic and her roommate were placed in a large split double instead of the open double they had chosen and were expecting for the semester. Although they were “forced” to live in another dorm, the cost didn’t change, Pasic said.
The 2026-27 room rates list open doubles as $5,450 per student per semester and $5,990 for split doubles and large open doubles.
Moon and Ingold said they chose Walnut partly for its location near their sorority house and were drawn to the building because of its “historical significance and older appearance,” Ingold said.
Despite being relocated further from her schools, the Newhouse School of Public Communications and Whitman School of Management, Pasic said her floormates have developed a shared bond over being moved into DellPlain.
Relocated students in DellPlain occupy floors 4 and 5, which are designated for sophomore residents.
Despite early concerns, all three students have been enjoying DellPlain, they said. Pasic said she was positively surprised by the new dorm and that the move gave her a better quality of living.
“I just think they could have communicated it better, and not just in an email me or someone else could have brushed over easily,” Pasic said.
