Plans to turn Smith Hall into an interfaith dorm still are in place, and officials hope to move forward with the project within the next year.
The Strategic Planning Committee approved the proposal in August for Smith Hall to be renovated and provide interfaith housing.
An interfaith dorm would be an intentional space for students from different faith backgrounds to live together and learn about each other’s traditions. Smith Hall has been empty since Fall 2014 when it was closed due to low enrollment.
“We’re still in the fundraising portion of the project,” said the Rev. Dr. Charles Neff, vice president for university-church relations.
The project will not move forward with actual renovations, according to the plan, until all the funds are in place. The cost of the project is estimated to be a little more than $2 million.
The fundraising team is talking to individuals who’ve invested in projects with similar goals and partners in religious communities. There are a couple of pledges from partners, including a sizable lead pledge of about $700,000, said Martin O’Gwynn, vice president of university advancement and external relations.
“We’re confident that we’re going to have the support we need with this project,” he said.
Once funds are in place, the team can contract for blueprints and structural design work, O’Gwynn said.
“There have already been meetings with construction contractors, but there is not a plan for going forward yet,” he said. “The contractors visited the site and had specific recommendations and commended Smith as having a ‘very stable building frame.’ That will give us flexibility to make the dorms much more contemporary. We’re anticipating having an architect here this month to get a more definitive idea of what can be done.”
There is no set start or completion date for the project.
“We hope that after we finish the fundraising work, we can begin renovations fairly soon after that,” Neff said. “Our hope would be to have it occupied as quickly as we can. Given where we are, its unlikely that 2017 will be a completion date, so we’re probably looking at 2018, but that’s just speculation at this point.”
O’Gwynn said he anticipates construction to start during the 2016-2017 academic year and is more optimistic about the completion date.
“There’s a possibility it could be occupied in the spring of 2017, but I think it’d be more likely to come online as a student housing facility in the fall of 2017.”
The proposal is to create suites to give the residence hall an apartment-style feel. Instead of rooms connecting across the long axis of the building, they would be self-contained in each stairwell. Each suite would have three bedrooms with two students each, three bathrooms and a shared living space. There are plans to renovate the first floor to create large meeting spaces, one of which to be used as a space for prayer, worship and other interfaith activities.
Neff said:
We want to provide a physical setting that encourages dialogue and encourages students to really learn and grow through discussion. The end result is deeper respect and deeper understanding of where your friends are coming from, especially in faith discussions.
To live in the interfaith dorm, students likely would have to apply, agree to a covenant and attend training sessions on how to live with people of different traditions, Neff said.
One plan for the dorm is that, for each of the suites, students would be paired with someone of their own faith tradition and the suitemates would be people of other faith traditions, in an effort to create interfaith dialogue.
Sara Thias, dance universal freshman, said this is a positive change for Smith Hall.
“It’s a great idea,” she said. “I feel like the people who’d make the choice to live in an interfaith dorm are already open to that sort of thing, but I think it can still increase knowledge between them.”
The interfaith dorm is not just for people of Abrahamic religions, but also recognizes the importance of agnostics and atheists as part of the conversation, Neff said.
It’s too early to determine the price of living in the interfaith dorm, Neff said. It should still fall within the price range of Banning, Draper and Harris, but it may be closer to Methodist to help cover renovation costs.
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