UHDS News

[The Daily Barometer, Oct. 3, 2012] — Finley Hall, a residence hall run by University Housing and Dining Services, is not a permanent residence hall anymore. The first two floors are now occupied by office space, as is Finley’s main lounge. Located next to the parking garage on the south side of campus, Finley now provides temporary housing for new student overflow, INTO OSU students and returning students. Last year, Finley housing themes included an upper-class and transfer student wing, as well as an ROTC wing. Both themes have now been moved to other permanent halls.

“UHDS made the decision to consolidate some vacancies that we typically see at the end of each fall term,” said BrianStroup, assistant director of operations and facilities at UHDS.

“We anticipated using the space to house academic scholars and some pre-college programs that the university hosts, as well as provide short-term housing for any overflow of students. However, students who are planning on attending OSU starting in the fall of 2013 will be able to select Finley Hall as an option,” Stroup said.

The organizations that utilize the office space include the health and science business center, the university administration business center and some math instructors.

“These three OSU groups were in need of temporary office space for the 2012-13 academic year as they await their new on-campus space to be ready to move into,” Stroup said.

Finley Hall students still have access to resident assistants and many activities like they did in the past. Finley Hall Resident Director Christine Nguyen also manages Bloss Hall, on the other side of Arnold Dining Center.

“With the exception of some lounge space being used by three OSU departments, Finley Hall residents have resident assistants and resident directors like any other residence hall, and through that have access to programming and activities in their building,” Stroup said.

The decision to change Finley Hall was made by the UHDS department leadership team.

“It was an approved decision by the UHDS Department leadership team, to make the best use of our capacity for a year with little freshman class growth anticipated,” Stroup said.

The changes are temporary, however, with Finley returning to being a full time residence hall in 2013-14.

Read the full article by reporter Vinay Ramakrishnan.