Students will relocate due to renovation of Graham and Defoe residence halls
by Emily Schmidt, posted Sept. 25, 2007
Construction will affect living conditions for several hundred students living in Graham and Defoe halls.
Defoe, which has been open since 1939, and Graham, which has been open since 1947, will close in December 2007. The renovations will be completed by fall of 2009.
Students living in Graham or Defoe will be relocated to other dorms. Many students move off campus during this relocation, but freshmen are required to live in the dorms for their first year on campus.
“It’s up to them on when they prefer to start moving out,” said Frankie Minor, director of residential life. “Students in Graham or Defoe were able to fill out move-out forms as early as Aug. 29. Students in other halls were allowed to fill out the forms a week later.”
Many students find it an inconvience to be moving out of their residence halls so soon.
“I think it’s a mess that we have to move out after a few months,” said Sam Winkler, a sophomore studying journalism. “I haven’t even lived in Graham a whole semester, but I’m moving out already; that’s just crazy.”
Many students only live on campus their first year or two. They find a solid group of friends and learn the campus, and then they look for someplace else to live.
“We lose a majority of these students to places like the Reserve, Copper Beach or Grindstone,” Minor said. “Those places are a major source of competition.”
Sorority and fraternity houses also take in hundreds of students each semester, which influences the number of students living in the dorms.
“I’m just going to move into my sorority house in the next couple weeks,” said Lauren Begley, a freshman studying fashion design. “It’s going to be a pain to move out already, but this way I can stay there for the rest of the semester and in the spring.”
Not only are students affected but those who work in the halls, including hall directors, hall coordinators and floor directors, are affected, too.
“The renovation will definitely affect me as a hall coordinator,” said Chad Plutchak. “I am losing two buildings as well as my wonderful staff of eight. We are hoping to be able to offer staff members jobs second semester. I will have other responsibilities assigned to me from the department and will return to the building in the fall of 2008.”
These dorm renovations are part of the 18-year Residential Life Master Plan. Graham and Defoe will be receiving complete renovations, including redone restrooms and lounge spaces; installation of elevators and of central air-conditioning; and new walls, doors and ceilings.
These old dorms are being renovated because they are in need of upgrading and refreshing the current appliances. They underwent structural analysis, and because students liked the layout of these dorms, it was decided to renovate them. Their location, room size and structural factors were positive attributes; however, the lack of elevators and a front desk were negative attributes.
Graham and Defoe are located on the south part of campus next to the MizzouRec student recreation complex.
Currently, Graham and Defoe are separate buildings, but they will soon be connected. Single rooms and suites will be added in hopes to create more updated housing for students coming to MU. With the anticipated class sizes steadily rising, more housing is needed. Upgrading and refreshing some of the existing dorms will add about 900 beds.
“When Graham and Defoe halls are renovated, occupancy is projected to be 307 students. At this point, estimates show that Defoe will house 99 students, Graham will accommodate 151 and the connector between Defoe and Graham will house 57 students,” according to the MU Web site.
Behind Graham is an expansive construction project that will be completed in fall 2009, too.
Known as Mid-Campus housing, it will be a set of three buildings. The completion of Graham, Defoe and Mid-Campus housing will be the final stage of the residential master plan.
To keep the projects consistent, brick and stone similar to what is on Graham and Defoe halls’ exterior will be used on the new Mid-Campus housing project.
The total price of the residential master plan will be about $369 million, Minor said. This residential master plan started with simple renovations in Lathrop and Laws in 2001. They received minor work, enough to hold them off for real renovations until 2015.
