IU made the decision to build another residence hall, Walnut Grove, to help offset the growing student body. This year’s freshman class introduced a record-breaking number of students: about 9,300, according to the official IU news website.
IU opened Walnut Grove this semester. The collection of four-story buildings in the Northwest neighborhood houses roughly 700 students. Construction began in fall 2019 and the budget totaled $99 million.
Although Walnut Grove adds more dorm rooms to IU’s campus, will it be enough to house students in the next few years? IU is constantly growing and we need to make sure there is enough room for all freshmen to be housed.
Lukas Leftwich, executive director of Residential Programs and Services, said RPS is in constant communication with campus partners to ensure it has the necessary capacity to meet its promise of housing all of the incoming freshmen.
“Should the need for more residence hall spaces be determined, we will work with campus leadership in capital planning to determine the most intelligent space to expand the campus housing and dining footprints,” Leftwich said.
After having to close down some of the residence halls in the past, it is nice to finally see a brand new residence hall open. But the construction of Walnut Grove was overdue — IU has been short on housing for years. IU should provide students with adequate housing, but the university has not always managed to do so. McNutt Quadrangle, Foster Quadrangle and parts of Teter Quadrangle were shut down in 2019 because of issues with mold. Some students even had to seek medical help for their exposure.
With the closure of residence halls, there were not enough dorms for students, so some had to live in lounges or relocate off campus.
It’s critical that the number of available dorms increases with the number of admitted students. IU needs to be proactive instead of building more residence halls after the classes get bigger. Considering the construction of more residence halls just in case something unexpected happens is not a bad idea.
Despite being overdue, many of Walnut Grove’s residents this year enjoy living in the new dorm. IU sophomore Kyle Siebert, Walnut Grove residential assistant, said the residence hall was one of his top picks to live in for this year.
“From my dorm in Briscoe, I had watched Walnut Grove being built all year, so I think that helped build anticipation and excitement for living and working here this year,” he said.
Adding Walnut Grove to the Northwest neighborhood allows more students to live in the area, compared to when the only open dorm was Briscoe because McNutt and Foster were closed due to mold.
All students should have the opportunity to live in a traditional dorm, so it is great that IU is building new residence halls to keep up with the growing number of students each year. If IU is going to continue accepting similar class sizes, it needs to build more residence halls like Walnut Grove proactively. Otherwise, it needs to accept fewer students.
Olivia Franklin (she/her) is a junior studying journalism with a minor in political science. She is a member of the swim club at IU and the Women in Media organization.
