Acting Provost June Youatt said that budgetary constraints were the main reason for the quality gap between residential halls and academic buildings.

“The real difference, fortunately or unfortunately, was that as an auxiliary service with a different revenue source … we can raise meal prices, we can raise rental costs,” Youatt said. “Whether we wanted to or not we had all kinds of ways to generate revenue, unlike on the general funds side where we are constrained other than grants, philanthropy and tuition.”

Although Residential and Hospitality Services, or RHS, acts as a separate organization and is responsible for its own funding, many of the renovations that took place in residence halls included the renovations of classrooms, said Vennie Gore, vice president for auxiliary enterprises.

Infrastructure Planning and Facilities is currently in the planning phase of renovating the third floor of Bessey Hall, which houses 28 instructional spaces and is one of the more heavily used academic buildings on campus. The renovation will include REAL rooms, or Rooms for Engaged and Active Learning, which include semi-circle tables for student engagement and a flat panel display at each table.

In addition, Chittenden Hall and Wilson Hall Creative Commons renovations are currently underway.

As for more widespread renovations to academic buildings, Gore said during the meeting that a university of MSU’s size with 543 buildings will take time to completely bring all mid-century style spaces up to modern standards.