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A spirit that is not afraid

Administrator has plan for new on-campus housing, hopes construction could start in next two years

Auburn's student affairs is focusing on housing for next step in on-campus development.

<p>Parents assist students move into The Hill dorms on Thursday, August 13.</p>

Parents assist students move into The Hill dorms on Thursday, August 13.

It’s no secret that Auburn is hitting a growth spurt. If Auburn were a five-year-old, it’d be jumping up and down by the wood doorframe, anxiously awaiting a pencil mark to tell it just how much taller it grew from yesterday. 

With the Auburn board of trustee’s roughly estimated $232 million budget approved for a slew of capital improvements to campus just weeks ago, Auburn and its students have much to anticipate, including a new central dining facility, culinary science building and new structural testing laboratory for engineering research. 

Yet, the spurt is far from slowing. According to Senior Vice President of Auburn Student Affairs Bobby Woodard, Auburn still has room to tack off a few more inches. 

“I think it looks like a ton of growth for us because we’re trying to catch up on the older academic buildings and take care of them,” Woodard said. “But at the same time, we’re looking at how can we be more innovative, and how can we push forward?” 

While most of the University’s focus on growth has centered on renovating or rebuilding outdated lab facilities and classrooms, Woodard has an additional focus in mind: housing. 

“I will be the first to admit that housing wise, we are behind the eight ball,” Woodard said. “We should have done something 10 years ago. I wasn’t here, but everybody that was here tells me they tried, but it didn’t fit in with the plan at that time. Now it does.” 

A palm-thick packet, scribbled and written over in blue-and-black pen, sits on Woodard’s busy desk. It’s the first draft of the housing master plan, a 10-year development project of Woodard’s along with Director of Housing Kevin Hoult and Assistant Director of Housing Robert R. McKinnell. 

The draft outlines a proposal to build new residence halls in an undetermined location with 1,400 beds, the precise amount to replace the beds in the Hill. The rooms will take on a traditional residence hall aesthetic, with both pod-style and semi-suite style rooms available for students to choose from. 

“We really want to cater toward freshmen,” Woodard said. “We want as many freshmen to live on campus as possible because they have that sense of belonging, and not only that, they feel more connected to the community.”

Construction will take place over two phases in a staggered effect. As new buildings are built, the old residence halls of the Hill will be knocked down until the 1,400 beds are replaced, and new construction for a separate residence hall will take place where the Hill currently stands. 

Though the draft is only in its earliest stages, Woodard hopes to take a plan to the Auburn board of trustees by April and begin moving dirt in the next two years. 

“I might be a little aggressive here,” Woodard admits with a laugh. “But I hope by talking to the board, putting our case together and making sure the finances work, we can have a new residence hall in two or three years and start getting everything moving.” 

In four of the five years Woodard has served as the senior vice president of student affairs, the number of incoming freshmen has increased steadily, with a gradual ebb and flow of 50 students. Housing’s occupancy rate averages at 96 percent, kept below 100 purposefully in case of an emergency in which students on or off-campus need a space to live. 

However, the number of students desiring to live on campus has increased, often times leaving the housing department to waitlist a substantial number of students. 

“If the need is there — that’s the biggest thing — but if the need is there, we want to be able to house any freshman who lives on campus,” Woodard said. 

The 10-year-plan not only outlines construction plans for new buildings, but also renovations for residence halls, including the Village and Cambridge. 

“We have a 10-year plan to do it all,” Woodard said. “What we’re most proud of is that it’s not an administration versus the students. We’re advocating for our students, and this is what is needed.” 

As Auburn continues to expand in residence halls, so too must new research laboratories and classroom buildings, Woodard said. Maintaining the campus environment’s intimacy is a top priority for student life, he added.

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“We want to be mindful that we don’t want to be Atlanta or Birmingham. We are very conscious of the facilities, and the board looks at the master plan to keep it the loveliest village,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean the buildings on campus can’t go vertical, they have to. We’re running out of space.” 

However, space doesn’t determine a village, Woodard said. Like many others advocating for the University and community’s growth, Woodard said it’s all about the people to maintain Auburn’s iconography.

“We don’t change Samford Hall, just give it a facelift,” Woodard said. “But if someone says it takes a village to raise, they’re not talking about buildings. They’re talking about people.” 


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