Michael Rotellini
Mrotell1@uwyo.edu
Plans have been brought to the Wyoming legislature’s Joint Appropriations Interim committee and Joint Education Interim committee for new residences halls.
These plans will not be acted upon in the near future but will look to replace the existing dormitories.
Five plans have been put in place with one looking to use the existing space the residences halls occupy now, while others look to expand and look at different options Eric Webb, executive director of Resident Life and Dining, said.
“What’s important is that we meet today’s student’s expectation and no matter how they lay out on the ground is the type of units they provided,” Webb said. “Students today don’t want community bathrooms across the halls they want one right by their rooms and bigger units. We truly need these things to be competitive with other schools.”
The residence halls are usually for first year students at the University of Wyoming and have been around for about 50 years, Webb said, he added that the university is looking to implement changes to help make the facilities more modern and accommodating to the first year student population.
Currently there would be need for a power plant to help make the proposed residence halls more efficient than the ones that already existed along to help take stress off of a growing campus.
The parking structure is also a crucial point to help not only create space for these new plans but have always been an issue at the residence halls and on campus in general.
Those freshmen that already live there believe the dorms are a great thing for the University and have some ideas themselves of what can make the dorms better, Cameron Craft, an undeclared freshman, said.
“I personally love living in the dorms, the overall experience has been great, as I have seen a large trend towards hall unity and comradeship,” Craft said. “The only things I can think of improving the dorms is general maintenance and improving the soundproofing between rooms.”
Even though the residence halls have been renovated and upgraded it is just putting a ‘Band-Aid’ on the situation, Webb said.
“In our current configuration we are a little over 1,200, and what we’re looking at today is a little over 2000. We don’t want to build more than we need to,” Webb said. “The newest residence hall is over 50 years old and even though it might have met student’s expectation then, they don’t meet them now.”
