Roughly a thousand new beds for graduate and professional students may make their way onto Central Campus as soon as two years from now, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta told the Graduate and Professional Student Council Tuesday night.
There are currently two hundred beds available for graduate and professional students on campus, Moneta said. But a consulting firm found in a study last year that the University has room for about a thousand more.
"It'll be affordable and accessible," Moneta said. "It will be a denser, apartment building style. It's not appropriate housing stock for undergraduates or graduates right now."
He noted that the movement of Linda Moiseenko, program coordinator for community housing, into the student affairs division has made it easier to advise graduate and professional students on off-campus housing options.
Moneta also discussed in detail the upcoming West Campus student center, noting that most of the buildings are oriented toward undergraduates.
"[The student center] is the undergraduate living room right next to where 3,000 of them live," Moneta said.
Many of the day-to-day commercial outlets currently in the Bryan Center will likely move to the new Central Campus, Moneta said.
Moneta noted that the new student center will also include a commons space for graduate and professional students, providing a place to "hang out" between classes.
IN OTHER BUSINESS:
A representative from the GPSC buildings and grounds subcommittee said that a recent safety walk with officers from the Duke University Police Department found that many places formerly deemed unsafe had been improved.
Rob Saunders, GPSC president and chair of the health insurance subcommittee, said his group had completed an analysis of health insurance programs at peer institutions and will be working on a new plan next semester.
Brian O'Dwyer, co-chair of the parking and transportation subcommittee, said he has received over 600 responses to the group's ongoing parking survey, representing more than 10 percent of the graduate and professional student body.
Lara Oliver, co-chair of the student affairs subcommittee, said GPSC is sponsoring a "Winter Olympics" party at the Devil's Den Saturday night at 10:30. The games will include a nonalcoholic Beirut tournament, a pool tournament and others to be announced.
The community service subcommittee is hosting an event at Northgate Mall at 11 a.m. Saturday. Participants will make gingerbread houses for developmentally challenged children and a free lunch will be served.
The Jan. 13 GPSC meeting will be a joint affair with the Duke Student Government, featuring Provost Peter Lange and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask as guest speakers.
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