Panther Commons 

Panther Commons is the newest residence hall located at the heart of High Point University's campus. Not only is this $95 million addition for undergraduate and graduate housing, but it also includes four new restaurants, a nail salon, a barber shop, two fitness studios and much more. From the public's eye, this facility is another addition to the Disney World of colleges, a luxury hotel and a beautiful sight to see, but the students say otherwise.

The Office of Student Life at HPU did not properly communicate that the 'grand opening' set in August 2023 was not as grand as expected. In reality, it was a half-opened, less than half-completed building on campus. Construction noises started as early as 6 a.m., no restaurants were open and study rooms were still under construction; the only thing that was 'complete' was students' rooms. However, according to Kendall Cohen, a sophomore resident in Panther Commons, rooms were only partially complete at the time of move-in, as some of her friends still had wet-painted walls, no bathroom mirrors, and a lack of hot water. 

Where HPU disappointed its students was not their slow speed of construction but their approach and lack of transparency in their communication to the students and their parents regarding construction. Was High Point University staff in the wrong? Are students overreacting? Should students and families be compensated for the inconvenience?

“I would just expect more respect on behalf of the university to provide us with information, considering I'm paying over $16,000 to live here,” Toni Cristiano said, a graduate student and Panther Commons Resident paying Tier 6. “It's a matter of having respect for the residents of this building and the people that live here."

Jason Sweet, assistant vice president of HPU construction, put the construction into perspective: "We have a beautiful problem here. The campus has transformed over the last 17 years tremendously, so we've been living with construction. If we don't have these growing pains, we can't get to a beautiful final product." While construction is unavoidable, it can be frustrating, time-consuming, and very disruptive to the students. Sweet added, “Since Covid happened, the construction industry has changed tremendously” and this is HPU’s first major construction project beginning to end since Covid. 

“The whole situation would have been better if the communication was better. Construction happens and these things take time. But they just kept coming up with fake responses and not telling us the truth. That’s what really upset everyone.” Cohen said. 

Communication breakdown over residents’ move-in date 

Panther Commons’ early move-in was scheduled for Aug. 11 but had to be postponed to Aug. 20 due to construction delays. As a result, these early move-in students were relocated to temporary housing. Vice President of Student Life, Gwenn Noel, said she directly contacted all early move-in students about the temporary housing situation 3-4 weeks before Aug. 11. 

"I personally called every one of them, and said, 'Do you still want to be a moving crew? If you don't, that's okay. If you do, we're going to have to temporarily house you. And then, on August 20, we can move you back into Panther Commons,’" Noel said.

Cohen, was a peer mentor and scheduled for early move-in. Her friends called her a few days before moving in to express their concerns about temporary housing, yet this was the first time she had heard of the situation; Cohen never received a phone call or email from Noel. Her parents immediately called HPU to ask about her living situation and express their concerns.

Unfortunately, the response they received from HPU was not very helpful, as an Office of Student Life employee said, ‘"Oh, it might be done.’" Cohen, who arrived in North Carolina Aug. 11, was notified via email that day that she was placed in off-campus temporary housing until Aug. 20; the peer mentor program started at 8 a.m. the following day, Aug. 12. 

When Cohen arrived, she went straight to Panther Commons to address the situation; she asked an employee, ‘"Where am I supposed to be staying tonight?" they responded, "We're sorry, we don't have a room for you until tomorrow.’" Cohen took matters into her own hands and stayed at a friend's house in Centennial Square 1.

Construction chaos

Cristiano, a graduate student in Panther Commons, gets woken up at approximately 6:30 a.m. each day by the sound of the drill and hammer; as a light sleeper, Cristiano suffered the consequences. She's not upset about construction; she's disappointed with the lack of communication from HPU. As a Panther Commons resident paying $16,362 per year, Cristiano feels that she and other residents should have received a significant refund or discount on their housing for the first semester because the gyms, restaurants, nail salon and barber shop were not open along with a single access point for entry. “How am I paying the same amount of money per semester when last semester I had less than half of what I get now?" 

Cohen pays Tier 2, which is $6,276 yearly, to live in Panther Commons, and she also agrees that residents should have been financially compensated or have the tier lowered. 

"God, if they would have even bumped it down a Tier or two? I think everyone would be happy. But they just didn't,” she said.

When these financial concerns were shared with Noel, she said she could not comment, as the board of trustees and the business office handle the housing tiers.

But it raises the question: the inconveniences and delayed construction have damaged students' experiences at HPU. Therefore, should HPU financially compensate students?

HPU extends an olive branch

The Office of Student Life received several complaints from students and parents about the living experience. In response, Noel contacted all Panther Commons residents on Sept. 8 and offered eight opportunities to compensate students for unsatisfactory living circumstances due to construction delays and several disruptions to students’ routines. 

“We recognize there will continue to be aspects of this living experience that are not ideal over the next few weeks and thank you in advance for working with us through these challenges…As a thank you for your understanding and patience during this process, we would like to offer you the following opportunities, both during and after construction.” 

A few opportunities included ‘Two complimentary vouchers for a haircut at The Barber Shop,’ ‘Complimentary daily pop-up meals,’ and ‘Reserved floor seat at the Flo Rida Concert.’ 

The truth is this: construction takes time, and no one is upset at HPU for working diligently to build a state-of-the-art residence hall; the problem is the lack of communication and transparency between HPU and its students.

Cohen has particularly struggled with communication as she has yet to receive all emails with updates on construction; her friends would receive an email, yet she wouldn't; she's been left out of the email list and had to hear updates through the grapevine. According to Cohen and Cristiano, this has been the worst year yet at HPU due to the immense stress of being a Panther Commons resident. The one thing that would've changed their experience is truthful communication. 

“Sometimes it was a last minute, ‘Hey, let’s get this out because we just got a change. We couldn’t really predict week to week what would be. We didn’t know week to week what we’d have to communicate. But anytime we had something of substance, we made sure we got something out.” Noel said in regard to her methodology of communication to students. 

Noel, The Office of Student Life and HPU Construction worked to the best of their ability to communicate with the students regarding construction. But with an ever-changing construction schedule and modifications to the blueprint, HPU did the best it could. Constructing a 210,000-square-foot residence hall in just 12 months is an incredible accomplishment that should not be forgotten. 

As construction on the state-of-the art resident hall and accompanying pool come to a close, Sweet expects that, by the beginning of April, the only things left to complete will be landscaping the front plaza.

After that, “we’re pretty much done with [Panther Commons],” he said.