Olsen Hall to welcome co-ed communication students in fall

Emily Andrews

If you’re planning on living in Olsen Hall next year and relying on it being guy-free, you’re out of luck.

Beginning next fall, the hall is going co-ed and will require its residents to be members of the College of Communication and Information. In addition, it will house the CCI Residential Commons, a living and learning community that is now in Verder Hall.

CCI Commons is designed for students who are in the College of Communication and Information. This includes communication studies, journalism and mass communication, library and information sciences and visual communication design majors.

“Many of the activities and services that are offered in Verder will continue into Olsen,” said Marianne Warzinski, CCI commons program coordinator.

Lindsay McCoy, junior broadcast news major and two-year resident adviser in Verder Hall, said she thinks the move is a good idea and will be an R.A. in Olsen next year.

“I think the move will be successful. It’s going to be closer to Franklin Hall, which is where the journalism school is moving. I think that there will be more of a focus on the communications for programs and activities,” McCoy said. “It’s a great way to network with people. I’m also excited to be around students who will be going through the same thing I went through and will be going through.”

Services and activities that CCI Commons offer include: weekly programs about communication issues; a 24-hour Mac lab; a studio for students; academic advising from the different schools in CCI; tutoring for the mandatory Grammar, Usage and Punctuation test; field trips and guest speakers.

The move resulted, in part, from the increased demand to live in CCI Commons. There are more than 100 members currently living in Verder and more than 300 individuals on the CCI Commons listserv.

“There were only 80 rooms that were available this year and they were taken quickly,” Warzinski said.

In Olsen, there are 235 rooms to fill.

Next year, the community won’t stop anyone from coming to the different speakers and workshops that CCI Commons offers, but some things such as the Mac lab and advising will be limited to CCI Commons students as a bonus of being involved in the program, Warzinski said.

“It will be nice because everyone will be in one place, it’s hard to be a community when everyone is all over,” Warzinski said.

Contact College of Communication and Information and student media reporter Emily Andrews at [email protected].