At least one of the new dorms is going to be ready for students to move into for the fall 2009 semester according to an e-mail Michael Cox, director of resident life, sent out to all students.
Brett Powell, vice president for administrative services, said the contractors will know by April 15 if both of the dorms will be completed by the first week in August — just in time for students to move in for the 2009-2010 school year.
This summer, Daniel South and possibly Daniel North dorms will be demolished. Eventually the Daniel, Conger and Ernest Bailey Halls will all be torn down and O.C. Bailey and Flippen-Perrin Halls will be turned into men’s dorms.
Student tuition is not expected to go up because of the project, according to Powell. However, students living in the new dorms will have to pay an extra fee similar to the one added in previous years to students living in Anthony and Maddox Halls.
“I think it will be $300 a semester for the new residential village,” Powell said. “Anthony and Maddox will drop their additional cost next year.”
Cox said a new system will be in place next semester for housing sign ups. Instead of signing up for the dorm they want to live in, students will sign up with the people they want to live with and then they will be given a housing appointment to look at and decide on a room.
Rooming applications are due to the student services office by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 14. Applications not turned in by then will cause the group to fall to the bottom of the list to pick dorms.
“Students will sign up in groups of four, and their [class] hours will be averaged together,” Cox said. “The numbers will be added and there will be a list.”
He said students with the most hours will be at the top of the list and given first pick of what dorms they want.
“The benefit of this is that every student gets the opportunity to live in whatever Ouachita housing they want to live in,” Cox said. “As your hours progress you move closer and closer to the top of the list.”
The new dorms are expected to be the most environmentally efficient dorms on campus.
“We included as many things in that project as we could to make it environmentally friendly,” Powell said. “We probably spent a little bit more on some of those features. We could have done it cheaper than that, but long term it will be cheaper to operate the buildings.”
Despite the current economic situation, the building project is not being negatively impacted because it is funded by bonds issued last spring.
