In the 2019-20 school year, Iowa State reported 750 vacancies throughout on-campus housing. After the Department of Residence predicted that amount would double in the following year, the department decided to close Oak-Elm in order to “consolidate the vacancies” in a financially sound decision.

This decision to close was made before the COVID-19 pandemic. When COVID-19 did come about, the resulting drop in contracts to attend Iowa State ensured that plenty of space would be available to students who chose to live on campus.

After a year of relatively low occupancy in on-campus housing, Iowa State forecasted a still small group of students coming into the university. As this last spring semester went on, the forecast grew until the university decided it was necessary to reopen Oak-Elm.

Vice President of Campus Life and Director of Residence Pete Englin chimed in on this rise in enrollment and residence.

“Our spring semester occupancy was lower than it had been for many, many years, so the return rate we forecast was going to be smaller,” Englin said. “At that time, the number of new Iowa State students they were forecasting was modest. It has just been building and building throughout late spring and summer, so with keeping Oak-Elm closed, we reach a point where those 430 beds are needed. The demand is there.”

Prompting this rise in residency at Iowa State could be the reduced risk from COVID-19 due to vaccines, masks and successful social distancing. 

Englin suggested more reasons why more students might want to live on campus.

“I think part of it is the in-person coursework that students are going to experience,” Englin said. “Students want to be on campus, they want to be hanging out with their peers, they want to have the Iowa State experience, and there’s a lot of energy around that. I just think students are ready to get back together in this great community, have fun, attend classes and go to football games.”

Englin gave another reason as to why students might want to live on campus.

“We want students to live where they believe they’re going to be most successful, and what we’ve been able to learn is students who live on campus the first year are more successful than when they choose to live off campus their first year,” Englin said.

When Oak-Elm closed, Iowa State hoped to reopen the 83-year-old residential hall with some renovations. During the relatively brief closure of Oak-Elm, it has been outfitted with air conditioned common places but not much else.

Another change for the dormitory has taken place during the closure. The previously all-female dorm has been changed to coed, dividing the floors between male and female houses.

“There is always a portion of our student population that would want a single-gendered experience,” Englin said. “We converted some of the Helser spaces and created access control so that the traffic within that space would stay single-gendered unless they are the guests of people that live on the floor. We’re really trying to be more gender inclusive in all of our designations with how we set up our facilities moving forward.” 

Conversations, the dining center located under Oak-Elm, remained open even as the dorm closed, although it was only offering order pickup. This fall, Conversations will return to its pre-COVID-19 functions with students having the ability to eat inside. This and many other changes of operation back to pre-COVID-19 states show the progress the university has made with the virus.

As this upcoming semester at Iowa State draws closer, the excitement shared by faculty and students grows. Returning to Iowa State with more in-person interactions and less social barriers means more opportunities to grow and learn. As Englin said, there’s a lot of energy around the Iowa State experience, and this upcoming semester shows a lot of potential.