The university is rushing to put the final touches on its new residence hall, named Laurel Hall. Each of the 388 students who will call Laurel Hall home will have his or her own private bedroom and will share a bathroom with no more than three other people. Both suites and apartments include a living area with a table and couch. The apartments also contain a kitchen with a full-size refrigerator, range and oven. Each bedroom includes telephone, cable television and campus Ethernet connections, meaning all 388 students can access university library holdings and search the World Wide Web from their individual rooms.
Students expect to have their own bedroom and Internet connections.
In Laurel Hall, the university is able to offer both. Lounges, classrooms and meeting rooms can be found on each of the residence hall's four floors. Many of these spaces open onto balconies. The building contains both a sprinkler system and smoke detection system. Laurel Hall brings the total number of beds on campus to about 4000.