The Housing and Dining Office will use the 519 responses from the Residence Hall Satisfaction Surveys to focus on improving specific campus concerns.

The 108-question survey was distributed to 1,600 randomly selected students in the fall, asking for input in a variety of areas – such as the quality of residence halls, building workers and variety and quality of food. The survey was a resource tool brought to Eastern by Director of Housing and Dining Mark Hudson from his former school, the University of North Dakota.

“It is a program we did every other year six times,” said Hudson, who worked at North Dakota for 15 years. “And over 10 years, for example, we went from a 45 percent laundry room satisfaction to 90 percent.”

It was the first time Hudson conducted such a survey at Eastern.

Stina Heldmann, president of the Residence Hall Association, that acts as the middleman between the university and students, said the survey gives the university students’ true perspective.

“The survey will show how we are going to respond, and that it’s not just a matter of ‘yes we recognize,'” Heldmann said. “But also ‘here’s how we take the suggestions to heart.’

“We’re giving them kind of a perspective on that, which is what students want.”

So Hudson, hired in summer 2001, brought the investigation to Eastern to improve some of the campus’ problems, which according to the survey, range from the lack of moveable furniture in the dorms to a lack of weekend programming.

Reservation-Only Dining

Beginning next semester, the university will offer a restaurant-style dinner Friday and Saturday nights in Tower West dining center. A similar meal was offered at Pemberton Hall dining center a few years ago, but the hall closed during the 2001-2002 calendar year.

The survey found 45 percent of students stated the food variety was fair, while 48 percent stated food quality was fair. Those numbers influenced the decision to bring back Reservation-Only Dining in hopes of bringing that number up.

Jody Horn, director of Panther Dining, said students can expect a higher-class experience. If things go the way she wants, the wooden tables in Pemberton’s dormant dining center will be moved to Tower West to provide a more intimate environment than the long tables currently there.

Steak, shrimp and chicken kiev are examples of meals, Horn said.

“Students call and actually make reservations,” said Horn, who predicted the steaks would be grilled outside to entice students. “It’s just like a restaurant where you place an order from a menu and have sit-down service. The students seemed to really like it.”

A similar excitement is shared by Mary Lou Beals, assistant director of dining services at Stevenson. She said the details were unclear so far, but the dining option would help business tremendously.

“I don’t know what Jody has in mind, but I know we’re going to do something a little nicer than what we’ve currently got,” Beals said. “It’s giving students something more upscale.”

Moveable Furniture

Another area where student input from the survey pushed priority up on another project was moveable furniture in the residence halls. Some 61 percent of surveyed students stated they were in favor of raising room costs to fund new moveable furniture.

Although some rooms in Carman and Thomas halls are refurnished, Hudson said he wants to finish the north tower of Thomas.

The unremodeled rooms have non-moveable furniture such as bolsters, desks and beds. Hudson said the new furniture would include individual desks, bunk or loft beds and bookshelves.

The university spends about $50,000 a year on furniture, the survey stated.

“We want to allow students to use their space more effectively,” Hudson said. “It will be a phasing program, meaning every residence hall won’t be refurnished in one year, but over time.”

Other work on the residence halls also will be completed over the summer.

Work will include renovation of the Stevenson Hall elevators, carpet and furniture replacement in Lawson Hall and a kitchenette and TV room upgrade in Pemberton Hall.

Slow Grounds Crew

Because of slow response times, 36 percent of students expressed concerns with the timeframe to which Facilities Planning and Management fixed campus problems.

Hudson said the question covered a wide range of problems, but classified it as “repair requests,” such as a plugged sink, burned out light bulb or a towel rack coming off.

Carol Strode, interim director of facilities planning and management, interpreted the number as 64 percent of students thinking the service was fine. She said facilities is working with the Housing Office to improve on the speed by filing the requests at a central location.

“(Facilities) is working on a better way to report to the occupant when the work has been completed,” Strode said in an e-mail. “Some things are obvious (like power being off), others are not. We are working on making sure our staff report to the hall secretary when we have been at the residence hall and what repairs are made.”

That communication would give hall secretaries better notice to tell students reasons for delays if parts were ordered.

Strode said facilities receives as many as 30,000 work requests during a year, and her area covers over 3 million square feet.

“We have to evaluate the situation, prioritize the need and respond in an appropriate manner,” she said.

Did the survey provide the money, too?

Housing and Dining was able to accelerate many of its renovation programs because of the influx of students – and consequently the jump in room and board revenue – this year. The survey stated the normal budget traditionally is $1.3 million, but the enrollment increase bumped that number to more than twice that figure to $2.9 million.

The enrollment for the fall 2002 semester was 11,163 students, which was an increase of 632 students from 2001. The total number was boosted by Eastern’s biggest freshman class, 2,751, which represented a 593 jump from the previous freshmen class. Freshmen are required to live on-campus.

“We can do things so much faster and more of them at the same time,” Hudson said. “Things like having more people work during the summer to prepare the buildings during the summer; getting more painting done, so when the college opens back up the residence halls are in as good a shape as possible.”

For example, most of the painting, construction or refurnishing is on a multiple-year cycle. Dorm rooms typically get repainted every five to six years, lounge furniture replaced every 20 years and drapes every 12 years.

The Housing and Dining budget is directly affected by profits from room and board. For the FY04, housing and dining predicted the room and board rate development figure to be more than $18 million before costs.