Auburn’s Housing and Residence Life Director Kim Trupp likes to joke that students living on campus will no longer have to wash their dishes in the bathroom sink.
With the Village dorms comes luxuries Auburn’s dorms have never seen before, including private bedrooms, shared bathrooms and a mini-kitchen with refrigerator.
“It’s exciting what The Village is going to add to our campus,” said Ruthie Payne, an Auburn academic counselor with educational support services. “The facilities are just incredible, and there are going to be lots of green spaces, and it’s going to be a great resource for our students.”
The much-needed addition to the Housing and Residence Life is generating excitement among students, teachers and alumni.
“I think the biggest thing Auburn students can expect is the newness,” Trupp said. “These will offer a little more space and privacy than we have in the Hill and Quad community.”
The Village offers a promising new beginning to two already growing Auburn traditions and communities: Greek sororities and the Living and Learning Communities.
Air conditioning problems and a limiting fire code on residents has brought attention to the need for larger, more accommodating places for sorority chapters to meet.
“Recruitment will go much smoother with these dorms, and sororities will reap benefits after recruitment, as well,” said Meredith Gaston, Panhellenic president.
With this facelift to dorm life, Panhellenic is hoping to see more girls live in the sorority dorms.
“Since it’s suite-style, it will ment, as well,” said Meredith Gaston, panhellenic president.
“I like that we don’t have houses,” she said. “It cuts down on competition because you’re not worried about what the house looks like, but what the girls in it are like and how you would fit in there.”
Panhellenic’s office will be in a more centralized location in the Village. It foresees a strengthening of the Greek community between chapters and between relationships in each sorority.
“It’ll definitely help all the sororities,” Gaston said. “Everyone is excited about decorating, and it’ll be newer and fresher. It’ll be more fit for how large the sororities have gotten.”
The Living and Learning communities are looking to expand, while keeping roots in and beyond the Upper Quad and Hill dorms.
The growing communities can focus on further integrating into all aspects of the University by residential and academic standpoints.
“Students are asking about learning communities,” Payne said. “Completion of these dorms will definitely make the University more competitive. That’s from a college standpoint, because any college on our campus is going to seem a lot more freshman-friendly if it has a learning community that welcomes them into the college.”
With the construction comes the addition of nine classrooms, four study spaces per floor and multiple offices for counselors, faculty and tutors.
“The Living and Learning Community is not just going to be in The Village — it’s actually going to be in our whole residential system,” Trupp said. “It’s going to be a programming model that is an opportunity for students to be in living and learning communities as we grow our partnership with the academic departments.”
Following the growing trend on Auburn’s campus, these new dorms were designed with sustainability as a top priority.
Some of the sustainability accents are pervious paving for reduced storm-water runoff, energy efficient heating, cooling systems and bike shelters.
“Anything we can do that promotes sustainability, we are doing with the new construction.” Trupp said. “The University has made the commitment that anywhere we can go green, we’re going to do that.”
Auburn has no concrete plans requiring all incoming freshmen to live on campus.
Even with the new dorms, Trupp assures Auburn constructing more housing will be necessary to accommodate that many students.
Many expectations have been placed on The Village, and one expectation that looks to be met is the completion deadline.
“On Feb. 1, we will be getting a guarantee on how many beds will be open in the fall,” Trupp said. “At this point on the calendar, we are on schedule for the entire complex to be opened in the fall of next year.”
The newest additions to on-campus living are said to be finished by fall 2009.
Trupp said it seems to be on track and will be ready for move-in day by next August.
