Board of Governors plans for new residence hall by 2011

By Aaron Smullin

Students have all heard about the waiting list for the residence halls or maybe you were one of those students that were put on that waiting list. This problem was caused by the increased student enrollment thus putting a burden on the residence halls.

According to a past issue of The Griffon News, Sean O’ Reilly, acting director of residential life said, on the morning of Aug. 18, 48 students were still on the waiting list. Numbers were even as high as 137.

A new plan may be in the works to have a new residence hall built to help with the increased demand from students. This was the topic of a recent Board of Governors meeting. Dillon Harp, student governor, who was in attendance said, that the idea would most likely be an apartment style residence hall, which is the same design featured in Leaverton and Vaselakos halls. Western is looking at possibly having 250 beds and making the hall for upperclassmen, said Harp. The expected staffing would consist of six resident assistants and one residence hall director. Judy Grimes, dean of student affairs, thinks apartment style halls is the most popular option.

“Apartment styles are what we are seeing at other schools,” Grimes said.

Grimes also talked about students who waited until the last minute to apply for housing to have a backup plan.

“We had students wait until July to apply for housing. At that time, we tell them they should have a plan B,” Grimes said. “A year ago, we had a number of students that did not come in the fall because of housing, but they did come in the spring which was amazing that they waited a semester.”

A meeting was held for students to voice their thoughts about this issue. Approximately 50 students were allowed to have input regarding how much they would pay for a semester to live in the new hall. The highest amount students are willing to pay is about $3,000 a semester. The average cost for a student living in the apartment style housing is $3,475 for the 09-10 school year. The meal plan that would be offered would be smaller and reduced. It would possibly be a $400 flex pay plan because the new hall would have small kitchens in the rooms.

President Robert Vartabedian is hoping to have a new hall built and ready to move in for the fall semester of 2011.

“The goal is for a new residence hall planning for fall 2011,” Vartabedian said.

Vartabedian also mentioned a few ideas in the works for next year. Students would be referred to apartment complexes in the area, however, students would pay rent to the owner and Western would not have any of the funds paid to them. Financial aid would not pick up any of the cost for living in an apartment. One other idea would be to have Leaverton and Vaselakos serve as overflow for the freshman from Scanlon hall. However, Leaverton and Vaselakos would still primarily serve upper-class students. Other ideas of housing were also discussed in the meeting. Some Greek organizations would like to have housing built on campus. Beshears could possibly serve as a temporary housing option for the Greek community while a long-term plan is being decided upon.

International student housing was also mentioned. Vartabedian is hoping to expand housing options to increase international student enrollment.

“International needs are so much more specialized so we would need to ensure their needs are met as we near 100 international students,” Vartabedian said.