MSU officials decided July 26 to delay the demolition of Suttle Hall due to lack of funding and a housing shortage for males on campus.Housing and residence life director Ann Bailey said Suttle was expected to close after the spring 2007 semester.
The nine-story male residence hall, completed in 1967, was supposed to be torn down during the summer, but the university lacked the funds to do so, she said.
With this year’s large freshman class as well as students wanting an easy housing solution and quick access to campus facilities, there is an overflow of students in the residence halls, Bailey said. Both Suttle and Herbert Halls are currently housing those students.
Associate director of housing Mike Green said the university’s commitment to provide housing to all applicants created the need for temporary housing for males in Suttle Hall and Herbert Hall.
There are enough rooms in the other residence halls to accommodate female residents, Green said.
“There are some spaces for females but our male spaces are overflowing,” he said.
Bailey said the housing arrangements for students living in Suttle and Herbert are temporary. Residence hall directors turned in their no-show lists Monday, she said.
“We calculate no-shows beginning at midnight before the first day of class,” Bailey said.
Bailey said more rooms will open after the lists are reviewed, and eventually students will be moved from Suttle and Herbert into other residence halls.
Bailey said Suttle will not be torn down until all students living there have received permanent housing. She said an exact date for demolition has not yet been determined, but expects it to be within the next 12 to 24 months.
Bailey said prior to this year, residence halls have only been full once during the 1980s. Students were not placed in temporary housing that year, she said.
Bailey and Green said the building of Northeast Village, which includes the Ruby, Griffis, Hurst and Building Three residence halls, has set a standard for on-campus housing.
“Housing at Mississippi State University has come a long way,” Bailey said, “We are cutting edge and we are a starting point now for a lot of institutions in and out of state.”
Construction on the Northeast Village began in 2004. While Ruby opened in Aug. 2005, construction began on Griffis and Hurst, both of which opened in Aug. 2006, Bailey said. Building Three was completed in the spring of 2007, and opened in August.
She said these new residence halls motivated students to stay on campus.
“With renovated housing and new housing now available, upper-class or returning students are looking at us twice before they move off-campus,” Bailey said. “That has not really been true in previous years.”
Excluding Suttle and Herbert, the 14 residence halls have less than 3,700 beds total, and there are 1,200 beds in Northeast Village alone, Green said.
More than 90 percent of this year’s applicants wanted placement in Northeast Village, he said.
Bailey said MSU is currently looking at the possibilities for a phase three of Northeast Village.
Sophomore biological sciences major Amy Halford said she moved back onto campus because it was convenient.
“I applied for Northeast Village and got in. I’m very satisfied,” she said.
Associate vice president for student affairs Lisa Harris said today’s college students tend to live in residence halls more so than they did in the past.
“The national trends are going back to students living on campus,” Harris said.
The university has enough to offer students, she said. With the new and renovated residence halls, as well as food establishments and proximity to classes, students are more likely to consider staying on campus.
Next year’s freshman class will be required to live on campus and required to purchase a meal plan, Harris said.
“It’s all about getting our students connected as soon as possible at MSU,” she said. “A more connected student is a more successful student.