Future plans for new dorms, renovations

Norwich University plans to build two new civilian student dorms over the next decade and renovate the corps of cadets' barracks to accommodate the growing student population, according to the vice president of student affairs.

"I think sometimes we all have to kind of step back and ask ourselves, ‘What's the strategic plan?'" said Brig. Gen. Kelley, commandant of cadets and vice president for student affairs. "The strategic plan is to build a new quad for our civilian students, but to substantially renovate and improve the quality of the barracks facilities for the corps of cadets."

While the strategic plan includes building two new dorms, the process to build them is slow.

"It takes (about) a year to create the design and get the permits, and then it takes another 18 months to two years to finish it," said Dave Magida, the chief administrative officer of facilities at Norwich. "We're not going to slap up some inexpensive, disposable-type building, because that's even less financially responsible."

Another, more significant, reason for the difficulty in building two new dorms is the current national economic situation. The difficulty to build new dorms is "because of the risky financial times that we're having right now," said Maj. Kristine Seipel, adjutant and housing officer.

With the economic recession the country is slowly recovering from, now is a financially challenging time to invest in huge projects, such as new housing and complete facility overhauls, Norwich administrators said. A project involving new dorms requires extensive planning and organization as well as funds, according to Lauren Wobby, Norwich chief financial officer.

"If the finances are not well constructed, and we make a bad decision on a poor financial model, and it comes to bear that we were wrong, that could be very damaging to the university," Wobby said. The process of building these dorms must be considered and then reconsidered, by multiple departments, to ensure it's a sound investment.

Norwich plans on building two new dorms by the year 2019, in time for the bicentennial. The dorms' most likely location would be on the grass area near South Hall, next to Parking Lot B, according to Kelley.

The NU 2019 Plan can be found online, as well as a list of all possible projects, at (http://my.norwich.edu/Lists/Presidential%20Announcements/Attachments/45/Possible%20Projects%202010.pdf).

The two new dorms would follow the same model as South Hall in their construction and facilities' plans.

To accommodate the corps of cadets' lifestyle, NU officials plan on renovating the corps of cadets' barracks. The first big step in this renovation is Gerard Hall, improved last summer.

Renovations include new swipe-card entrances, refurbished showers/bathrooms, new furniture in the rooms, wooden paneling in the halls, new floors and railings, as well as a new lounge area at the main entrance.

Goodyear Hall also received refurbished showers, and Wilson Hall received the same new furniture as in Gerard.

These smaller renovations occurred during the summer. The administration plans to follow up these improvements in all other Upper Parade barracks.

The new lounge in Gerard is being used as housing for cadets, as well as Dodge and Alumni Hall lounges for rooks. The Norwich housing office plans to give these students regular housing as soon as possible. "As quickly as we can, we put students into regular, permanent beds," Magida said.

Every barracks on the Upper Parade will have a lounge area, according to Kelley. This would be a new feature to Hawkins, Patterson, Goodyear, Wilson and Ransom halls.

Each lounge is built with two purposes in mind; first, as a space for students to relax: "I call it common space, lounge space, a space to meet with friends," Kelley said. The lounges are built as a social area.

Second, each new lounge is built as a countermeasure to overcrowding. "We can have a beautiful lounge which, most of the year, is a beautiful lounge, it can also accommodate additional students," Magida said. "The lounges were designed in terms of utilities, data, temperature controls, and they were designed so that, if students needed to live there, they could comfortably."

The administration uses the lounges as housing only in situations of overcrowding at the beginning of the school year. Alumni Hall has been used in this fashion before.

Renovating one hall every summer, the entire Upper Parade barracks are planned to be entirely renovated by the summer of 2017.  Every barracks will follow the Gerard Hall model, as well as smaller renovations to other corps of cadets barracks.

The administration is considering both lifestyles here on campus. A major goal for Norwich is to have an entirely residential community by 2019.

"To the university, students are important, regardless of their lifestyle, and we should remember that," said Bizhan Yahyazadeh, Norwich director of facilities operations. "The university does not favor one lifestyle over the other. Each has different requirements and this is a given."