With new dorms projected to be built on the Graves Hall field in the coming years, discussions have surfaced among students regarding the future of stacks. Stacking is a housing option on campus that allows groups of four to twelve upperclassmen to apply to live together in designated dormitories.
Students have wondered if the stacking system will eventually be phased out and all students will live in larger dorms. Head of School Raynard Kington clarified that Andover currently has no plans to remove stacks. In future construction projects, however, smaller dorms would be prioritized for replacement.
“Two things got conflated. As a part of thinking about building new dorms, one of the rationales was the relatively high cost of operating lots of small dorms… If we build new dorms they will be larger, within the framework of our size. The dorms they would replace with the highest priority would be the small dorms. But that doesn’t mean that stacking wouldn’t occur and it doesn’t mean that stacks only go into small dorms,” said Kington.
Kington continued, “With a clear intention to move away from smaller dorms and depending on how the new dorms are designed, there would be opportunities to stack in a wing or on a floor or in a way that would address that issue of giving students an opportunity to self-group and live together… The earliest that we had said construction might begin would be 2030. We’re five years away from that. We have to secure funding and design, there’s steps between here and there.”
For many students, stacks are an integral part of their Andover experience and often viewed as an upperclassmen privilege. Paige Terry ’27, who currently lives in Carter House, mentioned that stacks allow students to form closer relationships, highlighting the difference in community between larger dorms and stacks.
“In your upperclassmen years, you tend to slow down, because unless you’re a new Upper, you have your friends, you know who you are… At least in big dorms, people tend to get cliquey, especially towards the end of the year, which is normal. Within a stack, however, you really get to know these people well, so [you] solidify things like that. You might not have as many people or friends in your dorm, but quality over quantity,” said Terry.
As students get to choose who they stack with, Anny Wang ’26, who is stacking in Smith House, emphasized that stacks provide benefits that can be hard to find in larger dorms. She highlighted the safe spaces and more private settings that stacks create.
“Stacks [are] a safe space for people to express their identities with people who they really trust. It’s more about privacy and expression, whereas, in a bigger dorm, you get more exposure to more people… People can feel insecure because of the lack of safe space,” said Wang.
Tyler Tran ’26, a resident of Andover Cottage, described the process of split-stacking, in which two friend groups can live in a larger stack together. He commented that living in a stack helped him grow closer to more people.
“Most of the people from [the other] part of the split stack, I barely knew. I never talked to them. But now, we’re best friends. Every day, I’ll see them in [Paresky] Commons, and we’ll sit together. We’ll have great conversations when two years ago, I wouldn’t even bat my eye at them… I already thought before that dorm life itself is the best part about Andover. In my lower year, I’m like, ‘Man, I love dorm life.’ But stacking is like adding chocolate sauce onto my chocolate brownie,” said Tran.
