Blaine Moyle’s opinion piece about the ISU Master Plan was riddled with inaccuracies. I would like to take an opportunity point out the major ones.

(1) We have approximately 340 students in temporary housing, not “nearly 400,” as Moyle states. This number is steadily decreasing. This temporary housing situation is common for the beginning of the school year.

(2) Towers is not a “mirror of Hawthorn Court.” The double as single room concept has been extremely popular for years, and students have been paying extra for double as single rooms for many years. The cost of Wilson is the same as other double as single rooms, and Wilson has the added benefits of being furnished and newly renovated.

(3) The cost of Wilson is $1,821/semester. Students can add one of a variety of meal plan options to this cost. The lowest is $523/semester for a total cost of $2,344/semester.

The cost per semester of living in a two-bedroom Hawthorn Court apartment works out to $1,553, but this does not include any food costs.

(4) Only two of the Towers (Knapp and Storms) have exterior maintenance issues and are slated for demolition in the near future. We cannot build new facilities fast enough to make it possible to tear down these two halls right away.

(5) Moyle states: “The Master Plan seems to be focused on making residence more attractive for the new students while pushing the older students off campus into apartments.” This is absolutely not true. Hawthorn Court and Wilson Hall are examples of projects that make on-campus housing more attractive to older students. In fact, occupancy of juniors and seniors in campus housing increased 24.8 and 18.2 percent, respectively, for Fall 2000 as a direct result of the opening of Hawthorn Court. Research, as well as our upper-class retention history, indicate that a majority of upper-class students are not satisfied with sharing a basic dormitory room and want more space.

(6) The Master Plan was built around the wants and needs of students. It was developed after extensive research and communication with students.

(7) Lastly, I would like to take issue with the word “failure” in the headline of Moyle’s opinion piece. The fact that we have such high demand for our facilities, particularly Maple Hall and Hawthorn Court, would indicate that the Master Plan is a success.

Randy Alexander

Director of Residence

Iowa State University