Binghamton University’s plans to construct a new Dickinson Community are concrete, but what will happen to the current Dickinson buildings is not set in stone.

All of the present Dickinson buildings have different futures in store, ranging from housing student services to technology department offices.     

Construction is currently underway to build a new Dickinson Community on the opposite, southern side of the Brain that will eventually replace the existing Dickinson. The new buildings will be complete for the beginning of the fall 2013 semester, according to the University’s construction news website.

Dickinson Community is BU’s oldest residential community. Constructed between 1958 and 1960, Dickinson served as a model for communities built later. It is sometimes known by its nickname “the Original Community.”

The University and Dickinson Community’s leaders have said they want to preserve Dickinson’s sense of community as it relocates to the opposite side of the BU Brain.

“We’re making a lot of efforts to try and define what makes Dickinson Community what it is and to strengthen that in the next few years so that when we move across the road, we take the people and that sense of community with us,” said Jeff Barker, faculty master of Dickinson and associate professor of geological sciences and environmental studies. “People’s memories are about the people that they met in their halls and what they did together.”

Ellen Badger, director of international student and scholar services at BU, lived in Dickinson’s Johnson and Champlain Halls when she was a student at SUNY Binghamton in the 1970s.

Badger said she thinks it is hard for anyone to project what will happen to community “spirit in the ‘new Dickinson.'”

“If people are concerned that the buildings will house so many more students than the Dickinson buildings, and thus a sense of community will be lost, my response would be, wait and see,” Badger said.

Ashley Ragusa, a resident assistant in Dickinson’s Rafuse Hall and a junior majoring in psychology, said that she thinks the move will be successful.

“The innovation that Dickinson students have will thrive in the new living space but we will always remain humbled and indebted to our original home,” Ragusa said.

Johanna Sanders, a former president of Dickinson Community and a junior majoring in sociology, said she thinks the move will shift the “allegiance” of residents to a more hall-specific mindset.

“As Dickinson transitions across the road toward the larger buildings, the community will definitely change as students will start feeling a greater allegiance to their building as opposed to the community at large,” Sanders said.

Sanders said she was confident in Dickinson’s ability to adapt to its new role.

“Dickinson is the oldest community on campus and will continue to be ingrained in tradition, adapting incredibly as it has done for over 50 years,” she said.

Annual Dickinson traditions like Mutant Mania and Co-Rec will continue at the new location.

The Dickinson Object, a wooden structure that has served as an iconic symbol of Dickinson since 1967, and the Dickinson gazebo will both be moved across the Brain.

Dickinson’s six buildings are divided into pairs that are considered “sister buildings.” The pairings will be kept the same when the new Dickinson buildings are constructed.

Johnson and O’Connor Halls, which do not currently house students, now contain the offices of the East Campus Housing contractors and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, according to Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities.

Some space in Johnson and O’Connor are also currently being used for Residential Life offices, as well as programs normally located in the Tuscarora Office Building, which is undergoing renovations to its ventilation system, according to Fennie.

But in a few years Johnson and O’Connor will be used for other purposes.

“Down the road, Johnson and O’Connor will be used for the campus information technology department offices, geography department and the Binghamton Foundation and Alumni Relations offices,” Fennie said.

Fennie said this project is currently in its design stages. She said construction on Johnson and O’Connor is expected to begin in late 2012, and that the projects’ costs are estimated at $28.2 million.

The futures of Dickinson’s other buildings — Rafuse, Digman, Whitney, Champlain — is still being discussed by BU’s senior administration, Fennie said.

Fennie said Dickinson Dining Hall will eventually hold various student service functions that are currently located in the Student Wing like the Financial Aid Office, Student Accounts and admissions recruiting.

“The idea is to consolidate some student services in this area and thereby free up space in the Student Wing for academic purposes — classrooms,” she said.

Fennie said these dining hall renovations are in the “early design phase” now, and that the construction may begin by early 2013. The project’s estimated cost is $10.7 million.