On a cool afternoon, students are found sitting on the porch outside Palmer Hall that residents have deemed “the stoop.” The window in the drawing room on the first floor is open to let in the fresh air. Walls are embellished with original paintings and designs. Students sit around the community room playing guitar, eating dinner, catching up on work and enjoying each other’s company. It is a place that fosters community.
Palmer is home to The Mallet Assembly, an honors residence program at The University of Alabama. Mallet has been housed in Palmer since 2007 but will be moving again because the building is slated for demolition come next summer.
Members of The Mallet Assembly, or Malleteers, said the demolition has been a topic of conversation for many years.
“We’ve been aware of Palmer Hall’s demise for a while now,” Brandon Izor, a sophomore Malleteer majoring in computer science, said. “But every year it seems to get pushed back further and further.”
This summer it became clear Palmer would be torn down soon after the spring 2014 semester, Izor said. Despite the coming move, members feel certain a change of venue will not affect the organization.
“I think it will be okay,” Izor said. “The common theme of all the buildings that Mallet has been in is community.”
Izor said it is the organization that shapes where they are housed. During their time in Palmer, Malleteers have created a drawing room and personal library among other things. Mallet focuses on getting people out of their rooms and interacting with each other, he said.
The organization will be moving into a section of the Highlands on Hackberry Lane early next summer.
“It will be a little different,” Izor said. “But the community is a byproduct of the organization regardless of where we are put.”
However, Thomas Frederick, a sophomore Malleteer majoring in biology, said the move could potentially hurt Mallet’s recruitment. Many members stumble upon Mallet when they walk by Palmer and see students on the stoop. That is when they come to ask more questions about the organization, he said.
“People are just curious,” Frederick said. “With other dorms, people are hardly ever outside.”
Other members and students said Palmer is truly a safe haven for them. Ashley Wear, a sophomore majoring in management information systems, although not a member of Mallet, spends most of her time in Palmer with her friends.
“Palmer as a building is a home away from home,” Wear said. “It’s central. You go inside, and you just feel safe.”
The Highlands will only be a temporary location, Mallet president Issac Bell said. The organization will reside there only for the next three to four years.
“Right now we are working with housing to iron out the details for a dorm that we will share with the ELI program,” Bell said.
Most members expressed a positive outlook on the transition.
“I think that it will be a good move,” Izor said. “But it is sad to see Palmer go.”
