RLI in the News

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- A 75-year-old University of Michigan dormitory is set to get air-conditioned rooms, wireless Internet access and a dining room that offers stir-fry dishes and made-to-order pizza.

The Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall is the first dorm to be refurbished as part of the university's $280 million housing renovation project. It marks the first major renovation of a campus dorm in nearly 40 years.

The 500-bed dorm will be closed next spring for renovating and will reopen in fall 2008.

The university's Board of Regents approved the $65 million renovation Thursday, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Funds will come from housing revenues, investment proceeds and increases in room-and-board rates, said the university's Director of Student Housing Carole Henry. In recent years, residence hall rates have gone up about 5 percent with 2 percent dedicated to the renovations.

Henry said officials selected Mosher-Jordan -- built in 1930 -- as the first to renovate because its Collegiate Gothic style is considered architecturally significant and because it badly needs an upgrade.

Along with air conditioning and wireless Internet access, the building will get more lounges, music practice rooms and classroom space. Community bathrooms and rooms will be refurbished and refurnished.

A grand staircase will replace a loading dock on the front of the building.

A new two-story dining center will serve Mosher-Jordan and several nearby residence halls. Dining halls in the other building will be converted into class or meeting spaces.

The new dining facility will seat 700 and offer six food stations with selections such as pizza, Asian and Mexican food, salads, sandwiches and a coffee bar, Henry said. A separate grab-and-go cafe will seat 70.

The dining hall is the first of its kind on campus and represents a shift away from the chow-line cafeteria concept. Harper said it is the result of two years of planning that included surveys of other schools and focus group sessions with students, faculty and staff.

"These renovations are incredible," said Michigan student assembly President Jesse Levine. "The students appreciated the transparency of the process and the request by administrators that they be involved."

Michigan spokeswoman Julie Peterson said the closing of the dorm for renovations means the fall freshman class will be 500 students smaller than the usual 6,000.