After speaking with the Inter-Residence Hall Association, the Department of Residence has disclosed the selection process for Maple Hall, which is scheduled to reopen this fall.

Letters explaining the requirements to live in the hall were sent out after spring break to resident assistants, house presidents and former Maple Hall residents to give students the opportunity to apply for residency in the remodeled housing.

“The deadline for returning students was [Monday], and between 40 to 50 [applications] were turned in,” said Mimi Benjamin, coordinator of Residence Life. “[This] was fewer than we expected.”

Requirements for upper-class admittance into the hall, excluding past Maple Hall residents, include involvement both in and out of the residence hall, a minimum 2.5 GPA, as well as no active judicial sanctions.

“[Students with] a policy violation with a warning are still eligible to apply for placement,” Benjamin said.

About 480 students will be living in the co-ed hall. Of this amount, 120 spaces will be occupied by upperclassmen and staff, and the remaining spaces will be occupied by incoming students.

“Maple [Hall] will be co-ed and alcohol free,” said Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence. “When it closed it was all female, and some may not want to live there if they want all female.”

Alexander said half of the Maple Hall residents will participate in a learning team designed to improve the academic success of freshmen.

The learning teams include Agriculture Community Encourages Success (ACES), Biology Education Success Teams (BEST), Business Learning Community and Ag Engineering/Ag Tech.

“Each of these learning communities will have a small number [of participants] from each house,” Benjamin said. “You don’t have to be in a learning community to live in Maple [Hall], but you can be a part of it.”

Alexander said he believes the learning communities, as well as the interaction between freshmen and upperclassmen, will have an impact on the residents.

“The effect on the new students could be good or bad, depending on the student,” he said. “We put upper-class students who are role models with the freshmen.”

Alexander said freshmen will not be required to have a certain GPA to gain residency because department officials want the freshmen to mirror an average Iowa State freshman in terms of academics.

“If all [freshmen] have high GPAs coming in, you would expect them to do well when you skewed the results of the assessment,” he said. “You need to have a typical group do better than expected, so you can attribute it to the program.”

The cost of living in a double room in Maple Hall will be $266 more per year than a double room in another residence hall. The price for a suite will be a little more, Benjamin said.

Alexander said Maple Hall will be a “really nice” place to live. Every floor will have a small computer lab, a study room and a kitchenette. A sink, individual climate control and new furniture will be located in every room.

There also will be 16 suites with private bathrooms that will go to the upperclassmen, Alexander said.

“[There will be] all new loftable furniture, and you don’t need to bring any stuff from home,” he said. “[They] can set it up in a variety of ways.”

Along with the renovation of the rooms, the building was redesigned to be fully handicapped accessible.