By integrating a red felt pool table into a lounge with a pastel butterfly and flowers painted on the wall, the men of Freeman Hall have begun to claim the formerly all-women’s dorm as their own.

Freeman Hall, part of Richardson Court Association, had been a women’s dorm since it was built in 1916, but this semester it was switched to an all-male hall.

After the Department of Residence decided to close Knapp Hall this semester instead of next, the men who were supposed to move into the eighth and ninth floors of Knapp were shifted to Freeman Hall, said MacGarret Becker, Freeman Hall director.

“The transition had been pretty smooth,” said Becker, graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies. “Having an all one-gender community is kind of unusual. It’s kind of its niche.”

The women who were supposed to live in Freeman were placed in Oak-Elm Hall, he said.

Freeman consists of two houses, Vollmer and Busse. The Busse House sign on the outside of the hall still reads “Women of Busse.”

“The restrooms still say women on them, but the men know it’s men’s,” Becker said.

The Freeman Hall residents seem to be getting along well, Becker said.

“We’re at the point where we’re creating what Freeman is about,” Becker said. “The men are finding out what they want to be known for.”

Ryan McNair, freshman in pre-business, said he didn’t mind moving into the residence hall.

“I have no problem with it — the rooms didn’t smell very bad,” said McNair, Vollmer House vice president.

McNair said he enjoys being located close to campus and the open atmosphere associated with Freeman Hall.

“You can come back and everyone has their door open. There’s always someone who has loud music,” he said. “It’s an atmosphere I like to be in.”

However, McNair said he doesn’t think Freeman Hall fits in with the surrounding residence halls yet.

“We’re the liveliest hall in the party scene of the old RCA,” he said. “Most [of us] moved from Towers, and we were out there cause you can get away with a lot more.”

Not all residents in Freeman Hall are from Knapp Hall. Some students previously in the Fresh Start Program in Friley Hall were transferred to Freeman due to policy violations, Becker said.

“Certain policies are in place and if you violate those you are moved,” he said. “If they find an empty beer can, you’re gone.”

Stephan Zalesky, Vollmer House resident assistant, said while the influx of ex-Fresh Start students may not have improved the reputation of Freeman Hall, things are beginning to change.

“A lot of them have improved their behavior radically,” said Zalesky, senior in industrial engineering.

Some residents of Freeman are students from other dorms who moved via the Step Inside Program, a program designed to let students change rooms or roommates through Access Plus, Becker said.

Zalesky said students like to live in Freeman because it is a small, homey community.

“[The residents] are starting to develop an identity for themselves,” he said. “They’re getting used to living out here.”

Through the creation of traditions such as hall governments, a sister floor and intramural sports, Freeman Hall is discovering a new identity, Zalesky said.

“I thought [living in Freeman] was going to be really interesting and awkward, but at the same time is was an opportunity to start something new,” he said.