University officials say they hope the construction of a new dorm will bolster sagging on-campus housing occupancy rates.
Recent dorm occupancy rates of less than 90 percent have led to proposed improvements in on-campus housing, said Director of University Relations Joe Farris. Three dorms will be demolished, and a 400-student housing facility will be constructed behind Suttle Hall.
Director of Housing and Residence Life Ann Bailey said Hamlin Hall, Duggar Hall and Hightower Hall will all be torn down beginning late October or early November.
With the destruction of these three dormitories, the number of available beds on campus will drop by about 500 from the 4,000 available during 2003-2004 school term, Bailey said.
“With the decreased bed housing capacity we will be using every single available bed,” Bailey said. “We are full and right now it will be hard for anybody who does not already have a signed contract with housing to get into a dorm.”
Bailey also said that because of an “over-abundance of room requests,” freshmen male students now occupy the first two floors of Critz Hall, an upper-classman female dorm.
“We installed new card readers in the stairwells near the entrances of each of the floors, so men cannot get onto the female floors and women cannot get onto the male floors,” Bailey added.
Bailey also noted that although the university has not turned away any housing requests, the lack of open rooms has also led housing to offer fewer private rooms. They have also placed several students in Herbert Hall, which is normally rented out to university guests.
“We have some staying in Herbert until we can go through and figure out how many rooms we have no-shows in,” Bailey said.
Housing will regain most of the lost spaces with the completion of a 400-student capacity housing facility on the land behind Suttle Hall, which will replace the current on-campus housing experience with a more privatized one.
Bailey said the university expects to break ground in a couple of months on the new facility and administrators hope for an August 2005 opening.
The new facility will offer the option of double or single occupancy rooms and each room will have a private bathroom, Bailey said.
The new “open rectangle”-shaped building is expected to cost nearly $13 million, William Kibler, vice president for student affairs, said.
“The facility will contain computer labs, classrooms, gathering areas, and a large courtyard creating open space for recreational activities,” Kibler said.
“This is our response to a large number of students expressing a desire for more privacy in on-campus housing,” Bailey said. “We are increasing privacy and going toward the hotel-style dormitory.”
Bailey noted that the new dorm will be a 12-month facility, rather than a 9-month one, and students will pay a monthly rent rather than being charged for the dorm room each semester.
She also said that because of the 12-month system and the added privacy rates will be more than the rates for basic dorms and renovated dorms like Sessums, Cresswell and Hathorn.
“Students will be paying for privacy and convenience,” she said.
There is also discussion on another housing facility to be built on the land currently occupied by Duggar and Hightower once they are demolished. It could add 350-400 beds, Bailey said.
In the meantime, Evans Hall and Suttle Hall both received attention this summer.
Bailey said Coach Sylvester Croom proposed an idea to the housing department for several upperclassmen football players to live in Evans Hall, but the dorm will not be exclusive to football players.
“Evans has been spruced up to deal with the upperclassmen football players living there,” Bailey said. “After inspection and the recommendation of an engineer we decided the (Suttle) catwalks also needed attention.”
The department went through and made general improvements to Evans including painting and landscaping.
The Suttle improvements included repairing hazardous concrete walkways along the front of the building. Bailey said the concern was that a piece of concrete could fall from the walkway and injure someone.