Jenny Mason, a third year campus resident, heard from friends that the new dorms being built on the far east side of campus are going to house groups of two and three people.
Eric Barsness, who is living in the dorms for the first time, heard the new dorms are for graduate students.
Coronado Hall resident Amanda Qualls said she heard the rules of the new dorms will permit residents to consume alcohol, unlike all other dorms on campus.
Many students at UNM have heard a thing or two about the new dorms, but no one seems to know what will become of the $12 million dollar project when it is finished this summer.
John Burrows, associate director of housing at UNM, said when finished, the new apartment-style dorms will have 99 separate apartments with four bedrooms and one bathroom apiece. It will also have six efficiency-style rooms to be used for resident advisers.
“We worked on it for months,” Burrows said of the design of the new dorms. “We wanted to get more variety of apartments.”
Some students, like Mason, said they think one bathroom for four people is not enough.
“There’s always going to be conflicts between people’s schedules and showering,” Mason said.
Barsness agreed.
“One bathroom for four bedrooms? No way! Especially for girls,” he said.
Burrows, however, said he has reason to believe the design of the bathroom will address those problems. He said that the sink area, the toilet, and shower will be separated into compartments with doors that will allow the people using each part of the bathroom to have privacy.
“If everybody gets ready at one time, it should work out right,” Burrows said pointing to a blue print on his desk. “It gives you privacy.”
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Though some UNM students have successfully smuggled alcohol into the dorms in the past, Burrows said the rumor that alcohol will be permitted is false. The new dorms will not be an exception to the dry campus rules.
“I heard they were for 21 and over where you could possess alcohol,” Mason said.
Though some discussion has taken place about changing the dry campus rule, which does not allow alcohol, Burrows said the rules will remain the same.
“We don’t have that ruling yet — it’s not even being considered to my knowledge,” Burrows said.
The name of the structure is Redondo Village, but that could change. Burrows said the apartments will have many windows, a variety of furniture options, a small kitchen, a snack bar and a large study area. The bedrooms will be about 130 square feet each.
Though a lot of rooms in some of the older dorms are vacant, Burrows said the University probably wouldn’t have a problem recruiting students to fill all of the rooms next semester because two of the old dorms will convert rooms from being double occupancy to single occupancy.
All of the rooms in Santa Ana and Alvarado will have one single bed, a lounge chair, a microwave and a small refrigerator.
“There’s been a demand and other campuses have already gone to that because the students want more privacy and more space,” Burrows said.
Some of the other dorms will receive new mattresses, new paint, outdoor picnic tables and benches, Burrows said.
While the University does not know how much it will charge for the new dorms until the Legislature completes its budget this year, students are already looking forward to the building’s completion.
“If they let me, yeah, I’d move in,” Barsness said. “They’re supposed to be really nice.”
