Suitcases. The projects. The ISU Ghetto. These are all terms of endearment for the Towers — the dorms that generations of students loved to hate. But with the closure of Wallace-Wilson in May 2005, Iowa State’s footprint on Ames and the status of the residence halls will be irreversibly altered.

The Towers closure is merely the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of dorm hall closures. Helser Hall closed last May, Knapp-Storms closed December 2003, and Linden Dining Hall closed fall of 2003.

Iowa State is facing a dormitory crisis. As dormitory rates keep increasing and apartment amenities keep becoming more luxurious, students are flocking off campus. Since 2001, there are 1,000 more students living off campus and 1,000 fewer students living in the residence halls.

The university had little choice but to close Towers. It needed to make $2.7 million in budget cuts, and closing Towers would fill $2.1 million of the requirement.

However, closing down Towers will have an enormous impact on the Campustown atmosphere. Welch Avenue will no longer be the major student trafficway where all the parties are located; it will be another street with no more significance than any other street located near Campustown.

Business owners in Campustown already feel the effects of the Towers’ closure. They see fewer students walk by their businesses. It’s no secret why — four years ago, 2,000 students lived in the Towers. Now, only 500 people do. In eight months, nobody will.

This is the latest in a series of surprise moves within the residence hall system.

Helser closed last year, giving students virtually no notice that they didn’t have dorm rooms for the fall. These rapid closings happened due to incorrect enrollment projections.

This time, the university should be applauded for taking measures to give students plenty of time to move to different areas.

Giving the Helser residents extremely short notice of the building’s closure was a logistical nightmare for many students.

Nevertheless, students weren’t involved in the decision to close Towers. Interim residence director Todd Holcomb said if administration would have discussed the possibility of closing the halls openly with students, he didn’t know how to then keep it from custodians and other staff, according to the Sept. 17 Daily.

This is precisely the problem. Students need to be involved in the process of deciding where their dollars go in the residence hall system.

If residents don’t feel like their voices are being heard, the migration out of the dorms will only get worse.