In the last few decades, Mississippi State University has seen a number of new buildings constructed. Correspondingly, outdated buildings and residence homes are being updated to uphold this new standard, or they are being demolished to pave the way for more ambitious facilities.
As reported in 2019 by Hannah Blankenship for The Reflector, Rice Hall, a former all-girls residence hall, was awaiting demolition in the summer of 2020.
However, according to MSU’s Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter, Rice Hall became a valuable hotspot for office space during social distancing.
“Rather than demolish it, especially during COVID, the decision was made to use parts of the building,” Salter said.
Salter said at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rice Hall provided office space to MSU employees who needed additional distance from their coworkers. As the tensions of COVID-19 eased, more and more departments moved over to Rice Hall.
Salter said the pandemic caused a delay in deciding the fate of the residence hall.
“There’s a continuing dialogue in the administration about the future of the building, but at this time, it will never be used as a housing and residence life space again,” Salter said.
While Rice Hall is not a suitable residence hall according to Housing and Residence Life, Salter said that it would be transformed to fill the need for more office space and space for departments’ various projects.
Shonda Cumberland, the business manager for the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, described how Rice Hall is being repurposed.
Cumberland said the first floor holds offices for MSU employees, the fifth floor stores IT Services equipment and the MSU Police Department holds trainings on the sixth floor. 
Both associate professor of computer science Stephen Torri and Cumberland have been working in Rice Hall. However, their workplace location was not the only common factor between the two. Torri and Cumberland shared the same opinion regarding the future of the building.
“It may not be the Ritz-Carlton when it comes to academic offices, but if you just need a place to be able to meet with people, it works very well as that,” Torri said.
Cumberland agreed that the building’s unused space became convenient for departments, and in turn, saved the building from demolition.
“We have the music department, the police department, the IT department and the Center for Health Promotion and Wellness,” Cumberland said. “Since they’re not tearing down the building, it really looks like other departments and facilities will also utilize the building on top of the offices already in use.”
Torri said repurposing old dorms into renovated offices is more cost-effective compared to destroying them and constructing new facilities.
Unlike Torri and Cumberland, others said Rice Hall is severely outdated and needs renovation.
James Sweet, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, was often in Rice Hall to attend her lab for Introduction to Computer Programming.
“When I walked in, I thought I had accidentally walked in through the back door because it just looked like a storage room for fridges,” Sweet said.
Sweet described the feeling of walking into Rice Hall as a “creepy hospital vibe.”
“I think just even painting the walls and cleaning up all the storage stuff just thrown everywhere would help out a lot, honestly,” Sweet said. ”I think it could be nice, but there just is a lot of work that needs to be done for it to get to that point.”
While Rice Hall’s future has not been decided, MSU faculty and staff have continued to make use of the old dormitory building. However, the future of this facility is unknown, as the university could demolish Rice or decide to continue to use the building for faculty and students.