Students moved into Knapp Hall last week for the final time, as the Department of Residence announced the building, originally scheduled to be closed at the end of spring semester, will close in December.

Knapp Hall was built in 1966 as temporary housing designed to hold 580 residents, said Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence.

The building has never housed the full capacity, and this year, the occupancy was well below 78 percent, Alexander said.

Three and a half weeks ago, the Department of Residence made the recommendation to close the building due to the decrease in the amount of return students and transfers at Iowa State.

They made the final decision the following week and immediately began informing students who were scheduled to live in Knapp Hall.

In the next few weeks, Alexander said Department of Residence officials plan to analyze student living patterns by examining a program called “Where did they go?” that tracks every student who lives in the residence halls this year.

“Clearly part of [the decline of students requesting to live in Knapp Hall] is a drop in enrollment,” Alexander said.

Students were notified of the closing of Knapp Hall through letters or telephone calls, Alexander said.

Sonia Raichura, junior in business, international student from England and resident of Knapp Hall, said she was uninformed about the closing of Knapp Hall.

“I just found out from my neighbor [Wednesday],” Raichura said.

Raichura said there seemed to have been a communication gap between the Department of Residence and international students. Raichura said she plans to contact her program coordinator to ask her what’s going on and what will happen next.

In a letter sent to students scheduled to live in Knapp Hall by the Department of Residence, students were informed they can locate vacant rooms on AccessPlus beginning Sept. 8 to find a room for the spring semester. Students also have the option of immediately moving into a limited number of vacant rooms elsewhere.

The Department of Residence will try to accommodate students who wish to remain with their roommates by holding vacant rooms on AccessPlus, said Kate Bruns, communication specialist for the Department of Residence.

The Department of Residence is allowing the students who move from Knapp Hall into other residence halls to maintain the same housing fee rate, which is lower than other residence hall rates, Alexander said.

Knapp Hall also offered a “Plus Break” alternative so students could remain living in the dorms during university breaks. Students living in Knapp Hall will be able to remain in their Knapp rooms during the break between fall and spring semesters.

Some students are still upset after discovering only days ago their residence hall will be closed after fall semester.

“I wasn’t too happy. I have no idea what I’m going to do,” said Tim PeBenito, junior in management information systems.

Jenny Omvig, sophomore in business management and resident assistant in Knapp Hall, said she found out the first day of R.A. training that Knapp Hall would close.

Some students arrived at the residence hall unaware of the situation, she said.

“Freshmen are not having a good welcoming feeling,” Omvig said. The resident assistants of Knapp Hall have been guaranteed positions at other residence halls, Omvig said.

Omvig said she has decided not to move until the end of the semester.

“We can still have a semester of fun,” she said.

Three floors of Knapp Hall men have already moved into Freemen Hall, which used to house only females, Alexander said. The women of Freemen Hall were moved as whole floors and with their roommates to Oak-Elm, Alexander said.

“The Freemen women understood [the reason for moving], and were happy they could move together,” Alexander said.

By closing Knapp Hall a semester early, the university will save an estimated $200,000, Bruns said.

“This will keep cost lower for students,” Bruns said.

The date of the actual destruction of the building has not been set, but is expected to occur in the summer of 2005, Bruns said.

Although every student currently living in Knapp Hall will not be able to move immediately into other resident halls, Alexander said the Department of Residence is confident there will be enough vacancies in the spring for those who choose to stay in the residence halls.