The Undergraduate Student Government invited Aaron Macke to discuss residence life and approved a dance club on Oct. 12.

Guest Speaker: Aaron Macke

Aaron Macke, St. Thomas’ associate dean of students and director of residence life, discussed the increased interest in on-campus housing and summer renovations in dorms.

St. Thomas has the largest population on campus in the history of the school, with over 2800 students living on campus this semester. This number increased when the university constructed Tommie North Hall and Frey Hall, according to Macke.

“We knew that the ultimate goal of the university was to have some increase in enrollments,” Macke said.

The increase in student population meant that housing facilities had to make adjustments to fit all students who wanted to live on campus. Students have occupied the lounges of Brady Hall and Dowling Hall for the past two years.

If the interest in on-campus housing increases, this is predicted to happen again next year, according to Macke.

According to Macke, Residence Life will renovate student housing on campus during the upcoming summer.

Residence Life will work closely with Facilities Management to maintain on-campus dorms like Grace Hall, Murray Hall, Morrison Hall and Flynn Hall. Most living spaces will be repainted, refurnished and re-floored, especially in Grace Hall and Murray.

Due to these renovations, only Frey Hall will be open for summer housing.

“My goal for this upcoming summer is to go real hard on Grace and Murray. That’s my primary focus,” Macke said.

Cretin Hall is expected to be demolished at the end of the current 2023-24 academic year. Upper-division students will be able to enter a lottery and select living spaces for next year in December while rising second-year students won’t be able to select housing until April.

“We’ll be monitoring numbers, but I’m confident that we can continue to provide housing going forward,” Macke said.

Club Approved: Shake the Stage

Faith Her, president of Shake the Stage, proposed a Korean pop-inspired dance club that would help students at St. Thomas expand their knowledge of Korean culture and dance.

The club’s main focus is to promote a sense of accomplishment and to build relationships with fellow club members. The club is based around a “relaxed culture” so students aren’t expected to come with expert dancing skills, according to Her.

“We have the ability and the amount of instructors that are experienced enough to teach a more advanced class or to teach a more beginners level class,” Her said.

Shake the Stage will meet weekly on Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. The club will host workshops every week where members learn thirty seconds of new choreography. Shake the Stage will also host monthly events, like karaoke night and a Korean movie night.

“We don’t expect people to be perfectly good dancers or have a specific background in dance or in culture,” Her said, “We just expect them to come and have fun with us.”

The next general USG meeting will be at 12 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19 at Koch Fireside.

Gwynnevere Vang can be reached at vang5129@stthomas.edu.