The Board of Trustees voted 11 to 2 on Thursday to approve a five-year, $340 million plan to expand undergraduate housing, ending months of closed-door negotiations over how the university should address a persistent room shortage.

The plan funds construction of two new residence halls on the site of the current intramural fields and sets a phased closure of the four East Quad dormitories, which house roughly 900 students and have been flagged in three consecutive fire-safety audits.

A shortage years in the making

University officials have acknowledged since 2023 that undergraduate enrollment growth had outpaced housing capacity, a gap the school closed in the short term by converting common rooms and placing first-years in off-campus leased buildings.

We are not just building new beds. We are retiring buildings that should have been retired a decade ago.Vice President for Campus Planning, in a statement to the board

In a statement released after the vote, the Vice President for Campus Planning said the university had delayed the East Quad closures for years because it lacked replacement capacity, and called Thursday's approval "overdue."

What changes, and when

  • Construction on the first residence hall begins in January 2027, with an estimated opening in fall 2029.
  • East Quad's north two buildings close to residents at the end of the 2028–29 academic year.
  • The remaining East Quad buildings close on completion of the second residence hall, projected for 2031.
  • No current East Quad resident will be displaced without a guaranteed assignment elsewhere on campus, per the plan's text.

Two trustees voted against the plan, citing concerns over the university's rising debt load. A university spokesperson said the project will be financed through a mix of bond issuance and the ongoing capital campaign, and does not require a tuition increase beyond previously scheduled adjustments.

Student government representatives, who do not hold a formal vote on the board but were permitted to address it, welcomed the housing expansion but pressed for firmer guarantees on relocation support for East Quad residents.