About

East Quadrangle began construction in 1939 under the Morrison and Gabler architecture firm. The building was formally accepted by the Regents on March 1st, 1940, and opened to students in its first year as an all Men's dormitory in the Fall 1940 semester. This completed the construction of the north side of the building, built in the shape of an "O", containing in its center the EQ North Courtyard. This part of the building currently houses the students, staff, and faculty of the Residential College.

The original East Quad housed enlistees of the Military Intelligence Department, the Army Air Force, and Army Engineers during World War II. The first group of students to live in East Quad were 40 freshman ROTC students. Around 1942, the Army moved in and opened their Japanese Language School, where enlistees were taught Japanese for the purpose of combat intelligence.

It wasn't until 1946, after World War II had ended, that the University approved an addition to the building. The addition was built south of the "O" side, and constructed in the shape of an H, without an enclosed courtyard. Alumni remember being told that this was because it had to be built around a house whose owner refused to sell; apparently, UM didn't yet have the right of eminent domain.

It was at this point that the military moved out of East Quad. The H side was completed in 1948, and included four more houses named for professors: Henry Clay Anderson, Charles Horton Cooley, Joseph Ralston Hayden, and Louis Abraham Strauss. Today, the H side consists mostly of student dormitories and lounge spaces. The East Quad Garden, managed by the RC, sits in the western nook of the H, on East University Ave.

In 1952, due to great pressure and demand for women's dorms on campus, East Quad's Tyler and Prescott houses opened to housing women. In the first few years, East Quad's bathrooms—designed for men—were not renovated to be suited for the women that now lived there. Making use of the useless urinals in their restrooms, many women who lived in East Quad planted flowers in their urinals.

The Residential College welcomed its first class of 217 freshmen in the fall of 1967. It was to be a small living-learning community meant to combat the “impersonality” and “inertial drag of bigness” of a large liberal arts college like U of M, according to dean James Robertson, the first director of the RC.

While the RC was originally planned to be on North Campus, the planners ran into trouble securing funding, and temporarily placed the RC in EQ. East Quad was intended to be the RC's interim home until its permanent campus was constructed just north of the Huron River, but the students and staff soon recognized the advantage of closeness to central campus. In March 1968, after an enormous meeting between the UM Board of Regents and the RC's entire staff and student body, it was decided that East Quad would be the RC's permanent home. As the Regents had millions of dollars in plans to construct the RC's campus north of the Huron, the students, staff, and faculty must have been quite persuasive to convince them to keep the RC in EQ.

In the Fall of 1969, it was announced that East Quad would be installing a new music venue in the building. After a naming contest was held, "The Halfway Inn" won, but almost immediately the venue was nicknamed "The Halfass." It can be reasonably assumed that the name Halfway Inn derives from the venue's location halfway between the "O" side and "H" side of East Quad, which are the dorm's two main wings.

The Halfway Inn was a basement music venue and greasy spoon eatery—described by alumni as a "less refined mixture of Bilmpy Burger and the Blind Pig"—which stood roughly where the modern Keene Theater stands. A guide that would have been handed out to freshmen in the RC from the 70s reads the following: "The infamous, incomparable, and occasionally even unique Halfway Inn, or Halfass—if you prefer the local lingo—is East Quad's snackbar / coffeehouse / greasy spoon located in the basement of Cooley House. [...] The Halfass offers good food, cheap food, pinball, foosball, and a variety of entertainment in an atmosphere of total decadence."

While East Quad housed military personnel in the 40s, by the 70s, a much different crowd and culture took shape. The Halfass was freewheeling and wild—frequented by students and run by students. Students worked for "Joe and Virgil," Halfass staffmembers at the time. Local bands came through regularly, and the venue was very raucous and unruly. Many students couldn't stand the cafeteria food at the university during this time, and much prefered the greasy options at the Halfass, such as Frank's grilled cheese and tomato soup. Any alumnus who was around during this time will be able to recall a number of wild stories of student life.

In 1977, the RC Players formed, serving as one of the RC's longest lasting Forums, or student organizations. The Players have been producing Red Eye (formerly called Kamikaze Theater), One Acts, Small Acts, Evening of Scenes, and Full Length Productions ever since. The RC Players, aside from the RC itself, is one of the only institutions that has seen both the life and culture of the Halfass era as well as that of the modern day Keene Theater.

The wildness of the Halfass from the 70s, reflected from the wider counterculture movement in the U.S., did not wane in the 80s and 90s. Student life blossomed and boomed during this time, with tons of student groups, organizations, and RC Forums forming. Hundreds of local bands made up of townies and students came through and played the Halfass. While shows were open to the public, the venue was a haven for student life, with students often receiving discounted tickets.

Aside from the East Quad Dining Hall, the main food competitor of the Halfass was the East Quad Food Co-op, a dining option on the first floor of EQ that served students in the 80s and is remembered fondly by alumni.

The Eastern Michigan University Jazz Program came to the Halfass to play jazz on Friday nights. The RC Singers, a longtime choir group made up of RCers, was in full swing during this time period. The Brecht Company was a student and faculty collective that brought theater to the community. The infamous "No Talent Show" featured boring performances and jaw-not-dropping acts that required little to no skill.

The RC Music Co-op hosted live music frequently at the Halfass, and also housed a large collection of CDs and vinyl for students to listen to in the venue. Unfortunately, the architects of the building hadn't thought to account for the noise when planning the venue, leaving the unlucky residents in nearby dorm rooms to endure loud concerts regularly. Luckily, a sound-deadening wall was eventually put in, meaning EQ residents no longer had to endure the booming noise of the Halfass.

The RC Blowers, a musical bottle blowing club, was an offshoot of the RC Singers, which popped up during this time, and performed complex pieces such as Bach chorales. In 1984, Quadrangle Studios was formed, a basement recording studio for local bands. None of the student groups or organizations mentioned in this section are still in existence today (aside from EMU Jazz).

In 2010, UM Housing secured funding to renovate East Quad. The renovation updated infrastructure, including new plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilation, wireless network access. The Residential College formerly occupied spaces within East Quadrangle not originally designed for academic use, with administrative offices housed in former bedrooms and most classrooms located in the basement. One of the largest differences before and after the renovation was the seperation between living quarters and public areas, with clear boundaries being defined between the two areas. The renovation was completed before the Fall 2013 semester.

The renovation marked an end to the Halfass, which officially closed its doors for the final time when East Quad being undergoing construction. Much of the original charm of the Halfass was lost, including a full lobby space devoted to the venue, and a streetside entrance from East University Ave as well as from Church Street, which were scrapped in the renovation. The entire basement dining area of the Halfass was ostensibly absorbed into the EQ Dining Hall. The lobby was planned to be replaced with a small Sculpture Park which never came to fruition, and the modern lobby of the Keene Theater now exists in the basement of East Quad.

After a generous donation from the Keene family for the venue at the Halfway Inn, also called the East Quad Auditorium at the time, the venue was renamed to the Keene Theater. The Keene family's contribution made the theater a modern performance space, suited with state of the art lighting and sound, with a floating tech booth in the balcony. The Keene, like the Halfway Inn, is still home to many RC forums and RC programs, and serves as a haven from RC student life.

In September of 2024, the Keene Theater's stage was dedicated to the late Kate Mendeloff, beloved RC faculty member and founder of Shakespeare in the Arb.