A sixth lodge will be built in August 2013 at IU Southeast to accommodate more students who want to live on campus.

Currently, there are no vacancies in IU Southeast’s five other dorms.

“We have space for 399 students to live on campus,” Jen Crompton, assistant director for Residence Life and Housing, said. “The new building will most likely be the same size as our larger buildings — Meadow, Orchard and Woodland — so it will hold 87 students.”

IU Southeast’s five lodges — Meadow Lodge, Grove Lodge, Orchard Lodge, Forest Lodge and Woodland Lodge — were opened for students in August 2008.

The Indiana University Board of Trustees approved the project to build a new lodge in August 2011.

A few students living on campus agreed that more dorms were needed.

“The last I heard, there was a waiting list,” Megan Staten, elementary education freshman, said.

Staten lives in Forest Lodge.

“At the beginning of the year, there will be enough people to fill up the new dorm,” Staten said. “The new dorm should get those people off of the wait list.”

However, the official wait list does not come out until a couple of months.

“Right now, we don’t have a waiting list for spring [2012],” Crompton said.  “We won’t start our waiting list for next fall until we have completed returning student room sign up, which takes place in March, and then get enough new applications to fill all of our available spaces.”

Physical Plant will also have to clear some space to build the lodge.

“We will build the dorm in the open space by the Activities Building,” Jim Wolfe, director of Physical Plant, said.

The new dorm will be situated by the tennis courts, adjacent to the Activities Building.

“We will remove a section of trees to make room for the new dorm,” Wolfe said.

There are plans to expand existing parking lots and establish new ones.

“With the addition of the new lodge we will be adding more parking near the sixth lodge,” Crompton said.

Physical Plant will be working in the summer to complete many of these parking projects.

“During the summer, we will turn the temporary lot south of the Activities Building into a permanent lot,” Wolfe said.

There have also been a few concerns raised about wastewater and sewage issues for the new lodge.  In 2007, IU Southeast was able to lower its sewer bills for the dorms from $214,500 to $167,000.  There have also been other concerns raised regarding drainage from IU Southeast to Grant Line Road.

“There’s no issue with wastewater or sewage for the new dorm,” Wolfe said. “All of the wastewater goes into the current main off to Hausfeldt Lane. Then it goes into the sewage plant from there.”

Wolfe said IU Southeast plans to have the lodge open for use in August 2013.

There are also plans to have many new events on campus once the new lodge is complete.

“We will also be continuing efforts to host events and activities for all students at IU Southeast to help build on an already positive campus community,” Crompton said.

By BRADLEY COOPER

Staff

bradcoop@ius.edu