By Signe K. Skinion

Decisions on changes in the University Housing program for the fall of 1996, including a proposal for Neely Hall to become the only 21-and-older dorm on campus, will be made in early November, Housing officials said.

According to Housing officials, the reason for the proposed change is because there are more older students wanting to live on campus, and the current over-21 dorms, Allen and Warren Halls, cannot accommodate the need, officials said. Also, Housing is looking into changing some dorm floors from all women to all men and closing the Northwest Annex dorm.

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Edward L. Jones, director of University Housing, said there is still a lot to do with planning on the Neely conversion as well as other issues facing Housing next year, but there will be a decision made soon.

I think the thing of it is, I’m still getting feedback from the residents, and I’m reserving comment at this time as to how I feel about it. But there will be a decision, one way or the other, reached by the first part of November, Jones said.

Steve Kirk, assistant director of Residence Life, said the Neely decision as well as other housing changes will be made after all possible consequences have been examined.

After that, we will start addressing the questions students have and try to find what is workable, Kirk said. We have already had a lot of questions from students.

Sylvia Watkins, Residence Hall Association coordinator for the Neely conversion, said she has been working with the residents since the proposal first was announced and has a long list of questions residents have about possible changes to Neely to accommodate older students.

I set up a meeting with the residents of Allen Hall a couple of weeks ago, Watkins said. Through them, I got a feel for what they wanted if the Neely conversion happened, and I have since been going back and forth between them and the administration to see what we can do.

Watkins said some of the questions residents have been asking is if the horseshoe drive in front of Neely could be opened, if the windows in Neely could be opened and if the security measures of the building can be changed.

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Mr. Ed Jones and Mr. Steve Kirk brought their proposal to the RHA meeting the other night and said they were willing to open the horseshoe drive. The windows are still under discussion, Watkins said. As for the security issue, Neely will stay the way it is and you have to swipe your card to get into the building.

Currently the gates are closed because people park outside the building and make a lot of noise that disturbs residents, Kirk said. Housing has to look at how the change will affect a lot of the rules already in place at Neely, such as the windows and security, because there will be the older students living there.

Other changes in housing include restricting the fifth floor of Mae Smith to men and reserving the fourteenth floor of the building for transfer students. Mae Smith’s fifth floor currently houses women only, and the fourteenth floor is coed.

The reason we’re looking into switching floors from women to men is because we have had more demand for spaces for men than for women, Kirk said. There has also been an increase in transfer students that want to live in the dorms, and we have to address that issue as well.

Jones said there are a lot of changes Housing has to look at every year based on the changing student population, and these changes are part of it.

Warren Hall, in Thompson Point, and Allen Hall, in University Park, currently house 21-and-over students. If changes are enacted, both dorms would remain coed but would not be restricted to older students, Kirk said. The Northwest Annex, by the Communications Building, would most likely be closed down completely to housing students, he said.

Right now, I think Mr. Ed Jones has very strong intentions of closing Northwest Annex, Kirk said.

If Neely does become the only over-21 dorm on campus, Housing will have meetings with students who will be relocated to help place them in a new dorm for next fall, Kirk said.

Housing officials said if the changes are enacted, there will be single rooms in Allen and Neely Halls. The only dorms where alcohol will be permitted are Neely, Wakeland and Kaplan Halls. And if Neely becomes the only over-21 dorm, security would remain in place but checking in guests after 7 p.m. would most likely be dropped.

Reservations for rooms for next fall will begin in February, Kirk said.

I think we’re addressing some of the questions people have, Kirk said. However, whatever way the decision comes out, we won’t please everybody.