Mizzou Quads reopens due to space requirements
Smoking ban and transportation issues are being discussed.
Published June 3, 2009
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Mizzou Quads has recently opened up to students as a housing option for the upcoming fall semester. Previously, Mizzou Quads was not an option because it was not expected the extra housing would be needed, but the demand for space caused Department of Residential Life to reopen the off-campus housing option.
Mizzou Quads will once again be available to students for the 2009-10 school year. Residential Life Director Frankie Minor said the department originally planned to only reopen only Tiger Diggs, but demand for space exceeded their original predictions.
Although students were not given the option to choose Mizzou Quads until recently, Minor said spaces are already starting to fill up.
Minor said Residential Life is in the process of choosing staff members, including community and peer advisors, for the Quads and some positions will be filled by previously hired staff members who have expressed interest in moving to the extended campus.
"When we did our application process for CAs and PAs, there were a number of good candidates and we weren't able to hire all of them," Minor said. "So, we're going back to some of those people and offering them positions."
Some of the issues Mizzou Quads faced last year, such as transportation and rules about smoking, are still being negotiated. Minor said he anticipates transportation offerings will be similar to last year.
Sophomore Jon Cleair, the 2008-09 Mizzou Quads hall government president, said although the bus transportation was somewhat unreliable at the beginning of the year, most of the problems were resolved by the end of the year.
"The buses weren't too much of an inconvenience," Cleair said. "The main problem is they didn't have enough buses, but they got that worked out by the end of the year."
Minor said the rules at Mizzou Quads concerning the smoking ban plan are still being worked out.
"Last year they actually tried to ban smoking on the balconies," Cleair said. "But I went to RHA and they ended up restoring the smoking rights."
Minor said the Department of Residential Life is working with the management of the off-campus properties to make sure there is no confusion between the expectations of the property managers and of Residential Life.
"We will be working with the management of Mizzou Quads and Tiger Diggs to ensure compliance with their policies," he said. "We try to have our policies line up as closely as possible, but in some situations, we negotiate with them about what the policies are, so this is one that we will be revisiting. I would anticipate that the smoking policies at Mizzou Quads and Tiger Diggs will be consistent with campus policies."
