Or the ugly middle: where colleges built dorms in the old style/dimensions, but you were still forced to have self-closing 50lb fire doors because of fire code regulations.
The cheap way of doing this is to have self-closing doors that remain shut all the time. Hospitals and other high-traffic locations will have door holds that keep the doors open unless the fire alarm is tripped. When an alarm occurs, the door holds release and the fire doors close.
This is a safety improvement, because it avoids people propping doors open with wedges, chairs or fire extinguishers.
All the halls had them, as well as many doors in the academic buildings, whether they were new buildings or renovated 19th century buildings.