Student Government Association learns about new residence hall
Written by Anthony Addante on November 2, 2026
The Student Government Association heard a presentation about the planned residence hall on University Street and appointed a new Cardinal Court Senator. The residence hall is projected to have 900 beds with an attached dining hall.
The project will be influenced by feedback gathered from students last year. One consistent criticism was that the dining centers, particularly Watterson, were too crowded. To address this, the new dining center will have more seats than would be necessary. “For 900 beds, 425 seats is way more than you need,” Associate Director of Campus Dining Services Bill Legett said.
Other feedback, such as a desire for a well-lit environment, will also be at the forefront of the design.
“[One thing] you might be observing right now, a lot of glass. We heard students talk to us a lot about wanting natural light,” Executive Director University Housing Services Stacey Mwilambwe said.
The project will also take cues from a similar initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“When they built their residence hall in 2016, they put individual use bathrooms in and got a lot of good feedback….[it] would be like your bathroom at home. So you go in your bathroom, and there’s a sink, shower and toilet, so you close it, and it’s not gendered in any way, and you use it,” Mwilambwe said. “And so, the way we looked at south campus is [that] they bring that.”
One concern was that there would not be enough parking for the new development, particularly because lot G34 will be demolished to make space for the residence hall. Currently, the lot has 94 spaces, but Mwilambwe met with the Associate Director of Parking and Transportation Adam Loscar and was confident in his plan.
“So, what he’s going to do is he’s going to work with that garage that’s there, the South Campus Garage, programmatically…the spaces they have available in that parking garage right now exceed what we would have, what you’d be losing in that parking lot right now,” Mwilambwe said.
Despite this plan, there were still some concerns about parking.
“That parking solution seems to me almost like a Band-Aid on an open wound. I feel like the parking problem on campus is already, you know, not fantastic,” East Campus Senator Marek Pedziwater said.
Mwilambwe explained that the plan will not exacerbate the parking issue because the South University Garage can more than make up for the 94 spaces lost.
“There are even more spots than just the 94. So that parking garage is not utilized at its full capacity,” Mwilambwe said.
Sophomore marketing professional sales major Cole Wilson was appointed to be the new Cardinal Court Senator. There was some brief concern as Wilson appeared to be unfamiliar with Cardinal Court Leadership Association, but this was short-lived, as Wilson was appointed unanimously.
“I currently live in Cardinal Court, and I am willing to take on all the issues that will be put forth to me and address everything that is necessary. By living in Cardinal Court, I’ve also noticed that there are some demeaning issues that I want to be able to handle and take care of,” Wilson said.
