During the next few years, there might be plenty of parking for construction machinery on campus while crews complete renovations on OU's residence halls.

At the June 27 OU Board of Trustees meeting, members approved an 8 percent increase in room and board and a 6 percent increase in workshops and rent for university apartments to fund the renovations recommended by Ira Fink and Associates, a California-based consulting firm. The firm was hired last spring to review and analyze the needs of residence and dining halls.

At the spring trustees meeting, members approved the firm's recommendation to renovate, rather than rebuild, OU residence halls and dining facilities. The average age of all housing facilities is in more than 34 years, and Fink said his plan will adjust halls to last another generation or two.

Trustees address construction, tuition hikes and wage increases The Board of Trustees also was busy with other matters this past weekend. It approved an 8 percent increase in room and board rates for the each of the next two years. The increase will fund the $142 million campus renovation plan. It also approved the 6 percent tuition hike for the 1998-99 school year. The increase will raise the tuition for in-state undergraduate students from $4,080 to $4,383. Tuition at the five branch campuses was raised 2.5 percent. It raised the quarterly fee for students for the Ping Center from $65 to $69. It also voted to include the charge as part of the general fee in the 1999-2000 school year. It approved a revision to an original plan that will begin construction (in July of 1999 on West Green) of a campus-wide chilled loop system. The system will provide air conditioning to the entire campus, including residence halls and dining halls. It approved a $387.5 million budget for this fiscal year, which is up from the $366.5 million budget for the past year. It handed out the annual pay increases. President Glidden received a 4 percent raise, while vice presidents and deans got increases ranging from 1.6 percent to 4.78 percent. OU faculty and non-bargaining employees got a 3.5 percent raise, and senior administrators got a 3.6 percent raise. The Board changed the name of the Department of Chemistry to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to reflect the department's mission and fields of study. It established a $1 million Center of Innovation in Technology and Learning. Finally, it renewed a 25-year lease of part of the Eastern campus to Belmont County Technical College. -Matt Trem

The proposal outlined a yearly renovation schedule and suggested a pay-as-you-go plan as a way of paying for the renovations of the residence halls and dining facilities.

The increase will affect room and board rates, snack bar prices, catering and banquet costs, guest meal prices and parking rates.

The recommendations in Fink's plan will cost $142 million in its entirety, but in the next 10 years, OU will spend $73.4 million on renovations and campus-wide improvements.

In 1999, Tiffin Hall will be the first residence hall to undergo $2.6 million worth of renovations. The building will be closed until renovations, which will include heating, electrical and plumbing upgrades, are completed, said Bob Hynes, director of campus and auxiliary services.

"We're going to do everything we can to bring it back to its original architectural design," he said.

While the renovations will improve the residence halls for students, many onlookers might not see the added benefits they will provide, OU Vice President of Administration Gary North said.

"The problem with this type of renovation is that much of the expensive and time-consuming work we must do is on the plumbing, the roofs, the electrical systems and safety features," North said in an e-mail message. "They're important and make the halls more comfortable, but are harder for people to observe and appreciate."

To compensate for lost bed space, students who would live in Tiffin Hall for the 1999-2000 school year would live in Scott Quad and the Wolfe Street Apartments.

Scott Quad and the Wolfe Street Apartments will add 185 bed spaces for students who live on campus. However, the rent prices for apartments do not include such things as utilities, food, microfridge use, water services or garbage removal. Those services could cost a student up to $100 a month, North said.

If necessary, the students also could live in Bromley Hall while the residence halls are closed for repairs, he said.

Along with the proposed renovations for next year, crews also will complete similar renovations on university apartments and look into the possibility of building new apartments on the tennis courts near the Ping Center, Hynes said.

To target more upperclassmen to on-campus housing, Hynes said administrators will look into private partnerships to construct additional housing.

At the meeting, administrators presented options to the board for adding apartments that would cost about $17 million for 380 spaces.

"The apartment information was presented as a concept to show we could do apartments if the board wants us to do so," North said.

During the summer, crews also will install microfridges into each residence hall room, which costs $350,000 and will complete $2.8 million in basic renovations and $1.5 million in maintenance.