Students create time capsule to commemorate Whiti residence hall before demolition – The Daily Texan

Polaroids, trinkets and a torn-out diary entry with a drawing of a 50-foot-tall oak tree hovering over a residence hall filled a small metal time capsule Thursday as residents formally said goodbye to Whitis Court, a residential building slated for demolition in June.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents authorized the demolition of Whitis Court earlier this semester to build a new residence hall by 2026, which is expected to house 1,000 people – about 800 more than the space currently houses. The Whitis Court sunset soiree commemorated Whitis Court with a time capsule, a slideshow projected on an inflatable screen, dinner and mocktails during sunset in the Hall’s courtyard.

Three signs in the courtyard showed the history of the house. Built in the 1950s, Whitis Court originally consisted of three buildings. It was one of the few halls where Black women lived, according to the Campus and Community Engagement department website. In the 1960s the hall, then known as the Women’s Co-op, expanded to six buildings.

In the 1980s, April Lam transferred to the Co-op as an international student from China. Lam said residents maintained the building themselves and took turns cooking and cleaning family recipes, which she said her culture had not fully taught her. She said sharing this experience taught her life and social skills and eased her transition into American culture.

“I (was) an international student and I got to know the daily living habits of these girls,” Lam said. “If it hadn’t been for those two years, I wouldn’t have learned all these things.”

Courtyard signs noted that the university converted the buildings into mixed-use residence halls in the 1990s and was using them to house the new living-learning communities, a program that groups students in residence halls with people with similar interests.

Psychology senior Adriana Abril said she moved to Austin from Spain and this year joined the Global Living Learning Community, one of many communities housed in Whitis. She said students are just part of the crowd in other residence halls, but in Whitis people notice when their neighbors come home sick or unwell.

“(Whitis is) special because you run into someone in the bathroom and ask how they are doing,” Abril said. “That’s something that wouldn’t happen in any other residence hall.”

Pablo Sanchez, senior international relations, said the building’s homey atmosphere allowed him to create memories with Abril and other neighbors in every corner of the building, such as cooking bad macaroni and cheese in the kitchen, watching movies squeezed on the living room couch and the vomit said mac and cheese.

Abril and Sanchez dropped a photo of their Whitis adventures into the time capsule during the event. While a residential assistant took Polaroid photos of those present, the time capsule was filled with more photos commemorating the last group of residents to live in the approximately 70-year-old building.

“It’s beautiful,” Sánchez said. “We are creating a community – a strong community – that also takes care of each other.”