Next year, Memorial Hall and Goodbody Hall will reopen as student housing, something they have not been used for since the early 1980s.
For the 2017-18 school year Residential Programs and Services Housing will be making changes to on-campus housing. Memorial Hall and Goodbody Hall will become Wells Quad. Renovations in Read Center will also be completed allowing for students to live in all four wings of the building.
As these renovations finish up, renovations on Forest Quad will begin.
“RPS is constantly working to meet the changing needs of students,” Kelly Thacker, RPS assistant director of housing assignments, said.
There will also be changes to some of the Living Learning Communities and Themeatic Communities located within residence halls. Thacker said space in Wells Quad will be reserved for a LLC.
Wells Quad will contain about 182 beds and a 200-seat dining hall, according to Building a Stronger IU, a website that lists all of IU’s current construction projects.
Memorial Hall opened in 1925 and Goodbody Hall opened in 1936 with both serving as student housing, RPS executive director Patrick Connor said. In the 1960s, the buildings were transitioned into faculty and academic program offices and used for student housing for the last time in the early 1980s. She said the offices previously in Memorial and Goodbody halls have now been relocated.
“RPS also works to upgrade the buildings and facilities on a regular basis and changes are needed to accommodate for different projects,” Thacker said.
In addition to students being able to live in Wells Quad, they will also be able to live in all wings of Read Quad. Parts of the building were previously being renovated and now the building will be air conditioned, Thacker said. For the past two years, students have only been able to live in select wings of the building. This year, students live in two renovated wings.
While renovations will be completed in Read Center, they will be just getting started in Forest Quad. This will allow for students to only live in one of the building’s towers per semester.
She said students who are currently on campus and choosing to live in Forest Quad for the 2017-18 school year were informed they would have to move towers in January 2018. Only the West tower will be open in fall 2017 while the East tower is being renovated. Students will then move to the East tower while the West tower is being renovated.
“RPS will provide boxes and a moving service for the students to ensure that the transition is a smooth one for all involved,” Thacker said. “RPS will also work to maintain the same communities and therefore students will be assigned together on the same floors that they were in the fall.”
The Cooperative Housing Community, a community in which residents share the responsibility of housekeeping tasks, that was previously found in Forest Quad will be moved to Teter for the year, Thacker said. Once construction is complete RPS looks to move the Thematic Community back to Forest.
She said the 2017-18 school year will also bring new and renamed LLCs and Thematic Communities including the Informatics and Computing LLC, C.O.R.E LLC, Global LLC and Luis Davila Latinx Thematic Community, a community focused on immersing students in the history and culture of Latinxs.
Housing renewal for 2017-18 is currently up, Thacker said. Other information about housing options and deadlines can be found at rps.indiana.edu.
“Whenever new housing or communities are available for students, it provides them with more educational opportunities to connect with faculty and staff, as well as more choices related to areas or interest or housing amenities,” Thacker said.
