Additional student housing planned for south campus

For the first time since the heyday of “flower power,” more student housing is going to be constructed on Ohio State’s campus.In its April 6 meeting, the OSU Board of Trustees gave the go-ahead to the department of Housing, Food Services and Events Centers to construct apartments in the south campus area. The estimated cost that the Board approved was $17,421,177. The planned capacity of the apartments is 250-280. They will be the first new campus housing units built since Jones Tower was completed in 1969. After the apartments are completed, other campus housing will be converted to undergraduate use.”There’s a need for more graduate student housing, and we’re converting Morrison Tower from graduate to undergraduate student housing,” said William Hall, assistant vice president for student affairs, housing and food services. “We’re in the process of hiring an architect, and that will take several months. We’re probably looking at 18 months until we start construction.”More graduate student housing is needed badly, said Kathleen Carberry, president of the Council of Graduate Students.”We know of about 200 graduate students who were denied (campus) housing last fall,” Carberry said. “We think the number may be even higher because of students who were told there was no room and just didn’t bother to fill out an application.”The housing will benefit undergraduate as well as graduate students because Morrison Tower is being converted to entirely undergraduate housing. Hall said Morrison can hold 245 graduate students, but will be able to house 494 undergraduates because some rooms will be occupied by two students. Steve Kremer, director of residence life, said that addressing the demand for more campus housing for all students has been a growing concern.”We’ve had a pretty substantial increase in demand for on-campus housing in the past five years, especially from undergrads,” Kremer said. “We have not been able to completely meet the demand for graduate student housing on our campus in the past.”According to numbers from the office of Residence and Dining Halls, the conversion of Morrison Tower will bring the total on-campus undergraduate housing capacity of OSU to 8,540. Hall estimated that graduate students currently have about one tenth of the space. “Realistically, we have accommodations for 850 or so graduate students,” he said. “We also have a number of houses around campus.”The new housing will have separate apartment units, each with its own kitchenette, said Hall. He said he did not know what the rent on the apartments will be.