Named for former Western regents John B. Rodes and Max B. Harlin, Rodes-Harlin Hall opened to 400 women students in fall 1966. When the building was officially dedicated in fall 1967, the dedication program boasted of its spacious lobby and reception area and its general beauty and functionality.

Rodes-Harlin has had its problems over the years, including infestations of mice and more elevator breakdowns in 2000 than any other building on campus. But there is said to be a darker day in the hall's history which has given rise to a haunting. Like Potter Hall, the tragedy of suicide visited Rodes-Harlin when a distraught female student ended her life by jumping from the building's top floor.

Afterward, the girl's roommate would hear tapping on her door, but when she opened it no one was there. Even now, the ghost of the dead young woman is said to appear each year on the day of the suicide. Girls living on the ninth floor can also hear the sound of her footsteps on the roof at the very spot from which she leaped to her death.