Miami University has started preliminary planning for residence hall renovations despite the recent faculty letter on Miami's financial priorities, according to Director of Residence Life Jerry Olson.
The university brought in consulting firm Brailsford & Dunlavey Oct. 21 to question students on what changes they would like to see made to all aspects of residence halls, including sorority suites, bathrooms, study rooms and common areas, according to Olson.
Olson said several groups of students met throughout the day to discuss potential changes and current problems.
"We're just wanting to get students' opinions as we try to move forward to get new and improved halls," Olson said.
Olson said all residence halls would eventually either be remodeled or torn down and rebuilt.
"At the end of this long range plan, 25 years out say, all current facilities will either have been renovated or constructed," Olson said.
Larry Fink, assistant vice president of housing and auxiliaries, said the first phase of the plan should be unveiled soon.
"The goal right now is that (the first phase plan) would be complete around June 2010," Fink said. "We're getting to that final phase of wrapping up this very important plan. Our committee started meeting in June 2006."
Project Manager Robert Bell gave a goal date for the first reconstructed residence hall.
"Our goal is to bring a new residence hall online by the fall 2012," Bell said. "Construction would start approximately a year to 18 months before that."
Before the plan is released in summer 2010, Fink said Brailsford & Dunlavey will create an online survey for students to fill out concerning the residence hall construction.
"They are gathering the information," Fink said.
Fink added the university has placed much trust in the consulting firm because of its prestigious resume.
"They've had more than 300 university clients that they've done similar work with," Fink said. "They are working with the architectural firm, CBT Architects, to complete our long-range housing master plan."
Fink said they have not yet received the results of the focus group discussions from the firm.
One of the many factors of the renovation still undecided upon is the budget, according to Olson.
"There would be a threshold were students would say I'm not paying that much," Olson said. "Part of the planning process is to
determine what would be a reasonable expense that students would pay for a new building if and when a new residence hall is built."
Olson said cost for the individual student in this potentially pricey endeavor has not yet been examined.
"There hasn't been any decision made to what extent fees would increase," Olson said.
Olson explained it has not been discussed how or if sororities would pay more to account for the construction of improved sorority suites.
However, Fink said general and academic fees would not increase due to the construction.
"General fees would not be affected at all by the residence hall (construction)," Fink said.
Fink said room and board fees would be directed toward the building.
"We (also) use revenue that is generated from the summer conferences, leadership conferences, band camps," Fink said "The revenues we generate help offset the cost of the residence halls construction."
According to Olson, the firm will also work to identify several other areas that will help decide whether a residence hall will be renovated or entirely rebuilt.
"A renovated hall could be a gutting of the current structure and re-doing of everything inside all the way to minor modifications to what exists," Olson said. "If there was a hall with pretty good rooms inside and public space was adequate, reconfiguring that would not be necessary."
Bell said public space is also a large concern.
"A lot of residence halls have that common space in the basement," Bell said. "They're not that inviting so we're looking at bringing those up to the first floor so they can get natural light and so that more people will see them interact with them."
Sophomore Kelsey Morrison and a group of sorority members voiced other concerns about current facilities to the consulting firm. She agreed with Bell that students face problems with
residence hall common areas.
"(We discussed) the bathrooms not being very clean, how we don't have very many study rooms or many common areas not for studying," Morrison said. "We all said the rooms should be the same size."
With nearly three dozen residence halls to renovate, Fink said the process will be a long one.
"We've got 35 residence halls and part of this very comprehensive project is to assess the facility needs of these halls," Fink said. "It's going to take a while to get to all of them. How many buildings can be affected in the first phase - that's going to depend on cost."
