Hampton Male Dorm Now Home to the “Moton Missies”

In Moton Hall at Hampton University, the signs that once read, “No Women Beyond This Point” have been replaced with those that read, “No Males Beyond This Point.”

Moton, once a dorm for male upperclassmen, is now home to more than 160 freshmen women.

The students previously assigned to live in Moton were rehoused in other dorms, said Woodson H. Hopewell, dean of men.

Hampton enrolled almost 200 more freshmen than last year, according to the Office of Admissions, and Moton “was the right size,” to accommodate the increase in on-campus freshman women, said Jewel B. Long, dean of women.

“We had a very impressive recruitment campaign this year,” said Angela Boyd, director of admissions.

Annie M. Wilkins, who served as director of Kelsey Hall for the past four years, was named the new director of Moton.

Walls were painted, plants were added in the lobbies and urinals were boarded up.

“It does look like females live here,” Wilkins said. “It’s so much brighter, and it even smells like women live here.”

Many Moton residents and other Hampton students found out about the dorm’s previous life through word of mouth well before the semester began.

Tarissa Pickens, a freshman English major from Queens, N.Y., recalled that she heard about it from her cousin, a senior.

“I told [my cousin] where I was placed, and she was like, ‘Moton? That’s a guy’s dorm. How’d you get in there?’” Pickens said.

The topic was even discussed on an online forum message board on hbcu-central.com, an Internet center for prospective and current students and alumni of historically black colleges and universities. Postings ranged from disbelief to surprise to dismay.

Some residents said people’s eyebrows were still rising a week into the school year.

“Whenever we tell people where we live, they look at us like we’re crazy,” said Andrea Macklin, a freshman business management major from St. Louis.

“Their first words were, ‘I feel sorry for you,’” added Chantel Reed, a freshman business management major from Denver.

Moton residents boast about the accommodations they have that many of their peers don’t.

Whitney Ince, a Moton resident and freshman media management major from Columbia, Md., said, “We have air [conditioning], so that’s a good thing.”

“And we have a pool table,” added Chiquita Malvo, a freshman psychology major from New Brunswick, N.J., “That’s hot!”

The game room also has a card table, and the residents have access to a study room and a TV room.

Roommates Reed and Macklin are enjoying their stay.

“They did a good job with the renovations,” Reed said. “It really doesn’t bother me that it used to be a male dorm.”

Wilkins was tickled by the comments of former Moton resident assistants when they saw the facelift.

“They said, ‘You took our dorm and made it look girly!’” Wilkins said.

And the women certainly found their way around the kitchen. “They’ve already cooked lasagna and fried chicken,” Wilkins said.

Various measures have been taken to ensure a smooth transition for the women of Moton and their nearby male neighbors, the men of Wilder, Harkness and James halls.

James Hall has been named Moton’s freshman brother dorm.

HU Police Chief Leroy Crosby asked campus police to do extra patrols in the area near Moton and Harkness halls.

“I’ve asked the officers to take extra tours around that area because it’s the first time freshmen females have been over there,” he said.

Traditionally, women of each freshmen dorm are known by a collective nickname, and Moton wouldn’t be left out. With the help of a dictionary and three summer school students, Wilkins came up with the nickname “Moton Missies.”

“We started looking up words that began with ‘M’,” she said. “We couldn’t use the majestics because of the dance team here. We saw madam and then, missies came up.”

Wilkins ensured that her new residents knew they were to uphold the same standards of Hampton women.

“I scared the life out of them,” Wilkins said. “I gave them that motherly speech. We are ladies, and the bulletin board at the front door breaks down just who a Moton Missy is.”

Pickens is not shy about declaring her pride in being a Moton Missy.

“We have unity, and we’re the first,” Pickens said. “We have no past, so we’re building up pride [as a female] dorm.”

Janell Hazelwood and Erin L. Hill are students at Hampton University in Hampton, Va., who write for The Hampton Script.

Posted Sept. 29, 2003