Many University of Maryland dorms today are adorned with LED strip lights, mini-fridges and sometimes even flat screen TVs.

But if you were to walk into the same cinder block walled room 60 years ago, you might instead see the space surrounded with posters and record players.

Many North Campus dorms were built in the ‘60s and still house students. With minor construction updates throughout the years, generations of students have called these buildings their home.

In 1995, internet access was limited. Only some dorms had ethernet jacks and students could pay $70 a semester for a second phone line to make calls.

Brian Schenck, an alum of this university, wrote in a letter to the editor criticizing the Board of Regent’s salary increase for then-university president William Kirwan.

“The entire Board of Regents and Kirwan should be forced to live in the high rises of North Campus for two semesters and see how they like it,” Schenck wrote. “I’m sure they wouldn’t, those buildings are badly in need of refurbishment.”

When Elana Steinberg moved into Ellicott Hall in 1996, she remembers “rugged-looking” brown furniture, the extra long twin bed, a desk and a dresser. The same set up in the rooms today minus the decorative lights, big headboards and extension cords that fill every outlet.

“It wasn’t a thing to really do anything to a dorm and decorate or anything like that,” Steinberg said. “I don’t even think we had carpets.”

[Students are nuts for UMD’s squirrel watching club]

Many of the similarities between now and then aren’t glamorous. A Diamondback article from 1998 reported on students living in halls and their coping mechanisms to fight the summer heat. This included showering constantly and buying fans to deal with no air conditioning in some dorms — methods 2025 students still rely on.

In 1998, some students on campus were hospitalized after being unable to escape 95-degree temperatures, The Diamondback reported.

Alexandria Hede, a sophomore marketing and business analytics major, lived in Hagerstown Hall last year. Although she said she knew her dorm didn’t have air conditioning before moving in, she didn’t anticipate how bad it would get.

“The first couple of weeks were horrible … we would wake up sweating,” Hede said. “The lounge was the only place with AC, so we’d sleep there sometimes.”

[Latine Heritage Month Closing Gala celebrates unity among students]

Other than the addition of gender neutral areas, most bathrooms are still decorated with bright shades of pink, blue and green titles. Some halls have short walls separating the showers while others just have a shower curtain, just like Steinberg experienced.

Steinberg didn’t have high expectations about living in the dorms, but still felt like the buildings were old.

In 2021 and 2022, two new dorms were constructed and stood out for their modern, sleek look on the inside and outside.

When freshman communication major Mischa Lee, who lives in Cumberland Hall, visited friends in the new Pyon-Chen and Johnson-Whittle Halls, the differences were hard to ignore.

Even Steinberg was shocked when she visited the newer halls.

“It was like a hotel,” Steinberg said. “It was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it.”

Looking back, Steinberg said she’d prefer to be in a newer residence hall but said there’s a tradeoff between living in the new dorms versus living in the old ones.

Regardless of the evolution of the dorms, the timeless experience of living in a dorm will never change.

Historian Evelyn Reidy contributed archive research to this story.