Northside Hall Named “Lone Star”

The December 2 edition of the Houstonian announces that the new north-side residence hall scheduled to open for the Fall 2011 semester will be known henceforth as Lone Star Hall:

The name of the new building was decided on by students who participated in a campus-wide online vote that included four prospective names, all of which were pre-approved by President Dana Gibson.

This student-naming trend follows similar campaigns used for Raven Village and the SouthPaw Dining Hall.  The article also mentioned that Sam Houston Village and Raven Village will open to all student classifications for the next school year:

There will no longer be any all-freshman dorms with the exception of both Vick and Randel houses, which are designated for the freshmen Bearkat Learning Community. Several reasons account for this change, Joellen Tipton, Director of Residence Life, said.

"We realized, over the years, that a large building housing only freshmen doesn't work for building a community. Freshmen are more rowdy, and there tends to be more vandalism and wear-and-tear on the rooms," she said. Tipton also said that living in Sam Houston Village isolates freshman socially because they are less likely to interact with other students on campus or attend on-campus events.