Tuve to reopen, house students starting fall 2025

Renovations on Tuve Hall are set to begin in the first week of April 2025 and conclude between late July and mid-August, according to President Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, which will allow the dorm to house students come fall 2025.

Tuve was set to be renovated over the 2023-2024 academic year, but after the project was delayed, Tuve remained offline for the 2024-2025 academic year as well.

Assistant Dean of Students of Community Standards & Responsibilities Whitney Jibben said that the upcoming summer renovations, in partnership with Lloyd Companies, will focus on the bathrooms on all three of Tuve’s floors. Those on the north side of the building will retain their current structure, including banks of toilets stalls, showers and sinks; the south-side bathrooms will gain lockable toilet and shower stalls, similar to those in Bergsaker and Solberg.

“I think we're not blind to the fact that most students' preferences are spaces on the south end [of campus], just for location and the style that we have,” Jibben said. “So we're excited to be able to renovate a space that'll have some similar qualities on the north end, like those private restrooms.”

Herseth Sandlin said that the planned renovations for Tuve Hall do not include the addition of elevators or air conditioning.

Tuve’s planned reopening brought 56 single-occupancy rooms back into the spring housing lottery for the upcoming fall semester, according to Herseth Sandlin. She noted that the building’s full capacity is 82 total beds but that some rooms remain intentionally unassigned, which will allow Student Affairs’ Housing and Residence Life to address unexpected circumstances, such as roommate conflicts. 

“We'd rather have people be on campus for student engagement, for community building. Unlike a lot of schools, we're growing in enrollment,” Herseth Sandlin said. “But by having Tuve offline, it really created some problems with the large first-year and sophomore classes and then the number of juniors and seniors who wanted to stay on campus, [which] was actually at a historic high of the last five years.”

Herseth Sandlin attributed this increase in upperclassman interest in on-campus living to recent upgrades in residence buildings across campus, such as in Wagoner and Solberg Halls, noting that the university is recently “offering better options.”

In addition to Tuve’s upgrade, Campus Facilities Manager Jon Martin said that construction of a new apartment building, which will be located north of Tuve on the corner of 28th and Grange, is set to begin in late April or early May 2025. The project will span approximately 15 months and conclude in August 2026.