From Commuter to Residential Campus, March 1976

Photograph and text courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries

On March 4, 1976, university officials broke ground on the university’s first student housing complex located between Patriot Circle and SUB I, known at the time as the Student Union Building. During the ceremony in the Student Union Building, Mason President Vergil H. Dykstra hailed the planned student apartments as a significant shift from a commuter to a residential campus. The audience also listened to remarks by the Dean for Student Affairs Donald J. Marsh, Student Government President Michael Cholko and a benediction by Father Richard Wozniak of the Campus Ministry.

Following the ceremony, the crowd gathered outside where John C. Wood, Rector for the Board of Visitors, donned a Mason construction hat and grabbed a gold shovel. He remarked on the importance of the housing for the 500 future residents while acknowledging that even more housing would have been desirable. At the time of the groundbreaking, officials projected that students would pay from $115 to $125 per month depending on whether they lived in the six, four, or two-person apartments. The student housing opened in 1977 and the buildings underwent renovations in 2002.