Despite the disappointment from students about the closing of the Academic Village, Director of Residential Life Gareth Shumack promises improvements in the Woodland Halls.
The first specific change that has been made is a renewed Wi-Fi connection in the lounges. As of next semester, there will be central Wi-Fi throughout the entire building, therefore, residents no will longer need to bring a router.
There will also be new water filtration stations. “The residence halls will be the first area on campus to have them,” said Shumack. The water stations will have a filter to refill water bottles. Shumack also hopes this will encourage residents to recycle. This project should be installed by this summer.
For the near future Shumack hopes to replace the carpets in the buildings as well, and there will be new mattresses in buildings three, four, and five.
“Everything is budget and time constraint,” Schumack said.
Finally, housing selection will be done online by next year enabling residents to select their roommates and rooms online.
According to Shumack, the long-term goal is to improve the number of students living on campus. Although Shumack does not completely want to ignore the option of opening the AV again, he hopes to possibly build new residential halls once the long-term goals are met, rather than going back to the AV.
Officials in Residential Life are aware that closing the AV wasn’t a popular decision, but they believe that the building is not in a stable condition for students to live in. It has limited wife access and non-existent kitchens with stoves and a sink,
Residential Life believes that more work could be put into the Woodlands. The biggest problem with students seemed to be the lack of privacy offered in the Woodlands. “Lots of colleges around the country have DA’s [desk attendants] to secure the building,” said Shumack.
The Office of Residential Life sent a notice eight months in advanced informing that the AV will come to a close, therefore students have time to prepare for the change.
“We’re spending a lot of time thinking of RA training,” said Shumack. Residential Life is looking to also improve their on-campus living experience, through the connection between residential staff and residents. The main purpose of this decision is to have the resident community in one place, for a better sense of community.
