Residents and full-time employees of Wallace and Wilson halls and the Wallace-Wilson dining center were told Tuesday night that they cannot return next year.

The halls will close in May 2005 in response to a $2.7 million budget cut in the Department of Residence. The closings for the 2005-06 academic year are expected to save the Department of Residence $2.1 million.

Wallace and Wilson halls are part of the Towers Residence Association. Knapp and Storms, the other two buildings at Towers, closed in December 2003.

Todd Holcomb, associate vice president for student affairs, said after months of analyzing ways to cut expenses, the decision to close the halls and dining center was agreed upon.

“The decision came from multiple levels in the university,” Holcomb said. “We knew last May when we saw enrollment projections that there would need to be significant savings.”

He said the 1,000-student decrease in enrollment was a factor in the budget cut, as well as assurance that there would be space for the 500 students living in Wallace and Wilson to be redistributed throughout other residence halls.

Holcomb said the halls and the dining center will be available for summer conferences if needed, but will not be used for housing during the 2005-06 academic year.

An additional $600,000 will need to be saved elsewhere in the Department of Residence. But Holcomb said no decision on where that money will come from has been made yet. He expects a final decision to be announced at the end of October or early November, but said no more buildings will be closed.

Doug Gruenewald, assistant director of residence, was one of 10 people who announced the closing to the residents of Wallace and Wilson Tuesday night.

Residents are typically sophomores through graduate students who live in private rooms.

There are 10 floors in each of the buildings, and each community adviser is in charge of two floors. The administrators giving the news spread out and met with community advisers and their floors for the house meetings Tuesday.

Holcomb said the residents he spoke with were mostly concerned with finding another place to live that was both a single and affordable. He said the residence department will try to keep groups of neighbors together if they wish and accommodate as much as possible during the relocation of the residents.

“It was a mixed reaction, like you might expect,” Gruenewald said. “Some students were definitely disappointed because they liked living there and the living community they have developed.”

He said generally most residents were understanding about the budget cuts and were glad they had the opportunity to discuss the changes and ask questions.

Students who wanted to talk more or ask further questions after individual house meetings were invited to meet with Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs, at a meeting later that night.

“There were a couple emotional students, like one person who had lived out there four years in a row,” Holcomb said. “But generally they understood what we’re facing with the downturn in enrollment, the need to cut our budget.”

More than half of the residents of Wallace and Wilson halls are transfer students, and Holcomb said he thinks that may be a reason that so many residents seemed to have stronger attachments to the community than the building.

The closing also affects the 17 full-time employees who work as dining center and custodial staff. They were notified Tuesday.

Holcomb said this is a temporary solution, and, if enrollment increases, administration will look into reopening the facilities after the 2005-06 academic year.