Regents discuss future residence halls

by Jason Hartline, staff writer

A proposal for the construction of new residence halls and the television commercial advertising budget were among the main issues discussed during the October meeting of the South Plains College Board of Regents.

South Plains College is looking to construct new residence halls, or add on to existing facilities on the Levelland campus. These new buildings will offer a chance to house new students and increase the on-campus population.

There are currently 566 beds on the Levelland campus. In order to increase this number, the Board was presented with four different building schemes.

The first scheme would demolish all existing residence halls except for the Smallwood Apartments. In their place, two separate buildings would be constructed. These buildings could be one, two or three stories.

A one-story building would house 34 beds, a two-story building would house 70 beds and a three-story building would house 110 beds.

By demolishing existing structures and replacing them with two new buildings, 10 total facilities would be designed and built. The dormitories would be straight buildings, as opposed to the T-shaped and L-shaped ones currently being used.

It would cost an estimated $2.8 million to construct these new facilities. After soft costs are added, the Board is looking at a total of $3.4 million, roughly $83,000 per room. Soft costs consist of charges varying from landscaping to additional unplanned surprises.

The second scheme would consist of seven “L” shaped buildings. Like the first scheme, the old residence halls would be demolished and replaced.

These residence halls were presented as being co-ed. This is one of the major differences in the second scheme from the first.

The “L” shape would allow women to reside in one wing and men in the other. One central lobby area separating the two wings would allow ultimate supervision and almost eliminate mischievous activity.

A three-floor plan also was presented with various capacities. With a single-floor plan, the capacity will max at 64 beds, a two-floor plan with 128, and a three-floor plan with 192 beds. After soft costs, the second scheme came to a projected total of $6.3 million.

The third and fourth schemes add isolated additional facilities to the southwest corner of the campus.

“I personally lean more toward the third and fourth schemes,” said Dr. Kelvin Sharp, SPC president. “It seems more reasonable to utilize the unused land in that southwest corner before we start tearing down existing dorms.”

The third scheme would consist of two buildings, both being L-shaped. Again, these facilities were presented as co-ed. The third scheme was presented with three floors for both buildings. Each building had a different capacity level.

The single-floor plan for the first building would hold 78 beds, the double-floor plan could hold 156 beds and the triple could hold 234 beds. The second building would hold 64 for the single-floor plan, 128 for the double and 192 for the triple.  A projected total after soft-costs would be $8.6 million at $77,000 per room.

The fourth scheme is also isolated in the southwest corner of the campus. This scheme is presented as a single-floor facility that could hold 94 beds. This building is priced at $8.6 million.

The presenters suggested single or double-story buildings are more likely for SPC. Because of that, the total projections were based off of single-story plans. If SPC wanted to add multiple floors, the cost would increase.

All floor plans included a basement that would be big enough to house the resident population in the event of an emergency. The basement use would have much potential. They could be transformed into game rooms for students or meeting rooms for any occasion.

Stephen John, vice president of institutional advancement, gave his report on the development of promotional television commercials for SPC.

Four different commercials were created to showcase academic transfer, health occupations, technical development and workforce development. Each commercial shows the success that can be achieved through SPC.

“Our plan is to create and present as much awareness as we can to our youth,” said John. “We really want to show the success that is offered here at SPC. I honestly think these commercials will help to achieve that.”

The commercial advertisements are on a $40,000 budget. The commercials will run for six weeks in 575 TV spots. The commercials will air at the end of October or early November.

Dr. Sharp’s report consisted of upcoming events and the closing of the new Plainview property deal. Dr. Sharp mentioned the Scholarship Banquet on Oct. 23, Meet the Texans on Oct. 27 and recognition of Max Evans on Nov. 10.

In other action, Darrel Grimes, vice president of academic affairs, addressed the recent concerns of several Lubbock residents who wanted to develop an additional community college in east Lubbock.

“My recommendation is that we use the facilities we already have in existence,” said Grimes. “We can recruit local students from the community, help in their success and plug them back into the community to show others that a successful college career is possible.”

Building an entire new community college in east Lubbock would be unnecessary because of the SPC campuses that already exist at Reese Center and in Plainview.

“Some day, it might evolve into something bigger,” said Grimes. “For now, we’re going to keep doing what we do best, providing for the students.”

David Jones, vice president of student affairs, presented a report on how the college’s fall enrollment numbers were very strong.

Hurricane Ike impacted many community colleges in southern Texas. San Jacinto, Southwest Texas and Texas Southmost have not reported enrollment numbers for this year.

With SPC’s current enrollment at 9,265, SPC is only down by .34 percent. This was derived from enrollment reports during the past three years.

“We are still one of the largest community colleges in Texas,” said Jones. “At number 14 out of 50, our numbers are very strong.”