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Fast track
Construction on new dorms
to be finished within a year
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An artist’s rendering of the new Eccles
Living-Learning Center blends into the corner of
Columbus Square, between Juniper Hall and Manzanita
Court, where the new 50-unit, 300-bed dorm will
be built later this year. The project is expected
to be completed on Feb. 27, 2004.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANNE McCONNELL AND DAVID PAYSTRUP
/ UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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By HEATHER DARATA
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Construction will begin soon on new dorms to be built
between Manzanita Court and Juniper Hall because of a
$2 million donation from the George S. and Dolores Doré
Eccles Foundation.
The new dorms are scheduled to be completed in February
2004, said Neuman Duncan, director of housing.
“Yes, it can now be done,” Duncan said, in
reference to receiving the donation for the project.
More than 30 teams of builders and architects originally
bid on the project and were narrowed down to three teams.
The final team was selected Feb. 13, and the contract
will be signed this week, Duncan said.
Evergreene Construction Co. and KCB Architecture will
be in Cedar City within a week to start planning. Duncan
said he is unsure when the construction will begin.
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The dorms will be completed by Feb. 27, 2004,
and Evergreene Construction Co. and KCB Architecture will
take only a year to build the dorms, he said.
“It’s on a fast track,” Duncan said. “That
is a huge undertaking for just 12 months.”
The new dorm project will consist of three buildings containing
50 units and 300 beds. The buildings will be built on the
southwest corner of 500 W. 200 South on the Manzanita Court
property, he said.
One of the buildings will be named the Eccles Living-Learning
Center in honor of the Eccles family. This building will
include such amenities as computer labs, mailboxes, study
labs and game areas, Duncan said.
“These apartments are going to be simply awesome,”
Duncan said.
The mission of SUU Housing is to provide students with the
highest quality living conditions. Duncan said he believes
that the new dorms will allow SUU Housing to live up to
its mission statement more fully. The old dorms made it
harder to meet the mission statement.
Manzanita Court and Juniper Hall will still be in use after
the new dorms are built, he said.
Angela Wood, a freshman geology major from Cedar City, said
she lived in the dorms at Dixie State College and didn’t
like them.
She said she liked the party atmosphere but did not like
using meal plans at the campus cafeteria. Wood said she
would consider living in the new dorms because they will
have kitchens.
The new dorms are for sophomores, juniors and seniors, and
they will allow for more privacy by offering more private
rooms on campus, Duncan said.
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House mulls border design
By ELIZABETH MILLER
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
The focus of House Bill 75, designed to amend non-resident tuition
for higher education, has shifted to give universities increased
border waivers for non-resident students instead of changing
the required amount of credits needed to establish residency.
Rep. Loraine Pace, R-Dist. 4, said the bill would not have passed
if the current 60-credit requirement for non-resident students
to receive resident status had been adjusted to 45 credits.
A $3.5 million reimbursement package for campuses negatively
affected by last year’s move to 60 credit hours would
have killed the bill, Pace said.
“That would have never passed, so we are taking a different
approach,” she said.
The new proposal is in process right now, said Dorian Page,SUU
associate vice president and legislative liaison.
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It includes increasing the number of border waivers per university
from 350 waivers to an additional 500, Pace said.
Page said an increase in border waivers would allow SUU to give
residency-status tuition to those non-residents who live within
100 miles of Utah.
A portion of the bill proposes expanding this number to 200
miles, but Page said it is still on the table.
“It’s unsure which way this would go,” Page
said. “We’re trying to find the compromise.”
If the borders were extended to include areas within 200 miles,
Page said it would definitely help SUU.
“That would extend us beyond Mesquite to include Las Vegas,”
he said. “The downside is that it won’t help students
from California and Arizona.”
Page said border waivers and the increase of border areas would
benefit Dixie State College and Utah State University as well.
Mark Steinagel, information consultant for the Office of Legislative
Research and General Counsel, said the bill has just been introduced.
Pace said the first vote on this bill will be Friday at the
House Committee meeting.
“It’s the second item on the agenda,” she
said.
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