Despite continued overcrowding in housing, plans to convert Haven Hall’s former dining space — which is now vacant — into dorm rooms are on hold.

Syracuse University is still considering how best to use the space, said Sara Miller, SU spokeswoman, in an e-mail. Some of the possibilities that have been discussed, besides more housing, include a fitness center, a computer cluster or a lounge.

Haven Dining Center closed when Ernie Davis Dining Center opened in January. Since then, the university has been conducting space studies to determine the most practical use for the empty space, Miller said. There is still not a set time frame for when the space might begin to be converted.

‘Whenever space becomes available on campus for repurposing, we look at its qualities and suitability for various purposes,’ she said. ‘In this case, the space is not orthogonally shaped, its window and bay spacing is unusual, and its location is not ideal for all purposes. Nonetheless, we need to look at current space needs for academic, student life and administrative purposes and determine what it would work best for.’

The space studies revealed converting the empty space in Haven to dorm rooms would add approximately 27 extra beds, Miller said. Though housing remains overcrowded and all lounges in Boland, Booth, Brockway, Day, DellPlain, Flint, Lawrinson, Marion, Sadler and Shaw halls have been converted into four-person dorm rooms, the empty space in Haven will not be converted to extra dorm rooms.

This year’s overcrowding was caused by an exceptionally large freshman class size, Miller said. The addition of Ernie Davis Hall and private developer housing, such as Park Point apartments and University Village Apartments, would have been sufficient to alleviate overcrowding in on-campus housing without the empty space in Haven under normal circumstances, she said. And the opening of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s first dorm next year will free up 280 beds on South Campus. All that new housing space would not justify the costs of converting the empty space in Haven into dorm rooms, she said.

As with all construction and conversion projects, costs are being factored into the decision of how to use the space in Haven. The source of funding for the project will not be determined until the new purpose is decided, Miller said.

Some Haven residents, like Braxton Meyer, a junior philosophy major, said they believe the university is taking too long in determining how to use the space in Haven.

Meyer said he wishes the dining hall had never been closed and would reopen, something Miller said is unlikely. In light of that, Meyer said he thinks the best use would be study space or a computer cluster.

But Sarah Lee, a junior psychology major, said a computer cluster would be unnecessary, as Kimmel Computer Cluster is located about a block away from Haven. She also said there are too many computer clusters on campus, in general.

Lee said she thinks the university should reconsider using the space as dorm rooms.

She said: ‘What else are they going to do with it?’

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Published on September 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm