Trustees to Vote on Taft, Van Doren Demolition
The University of Illinois board will decide Thursday whether to tear down two Fourth Street residence halls and approve design of a replacement.
Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in College Life
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The University of Illinois Board of Trustees will vote Thursday, November 12, 2026, on demolishing the Taft and Van Doren residence halls and on the design of a new residence hall to replace them. The halls, which lack air conditioning and are not wheelchair accessible, are planned for demolition after the spring 2027 semester.
Why it matters
As enrollment has grown, the university has scrambled to find enough housing, and it has converted shared spaces such as study rooms into temporary dorm rooms. The decision affects how many students can be housed on the Champaign campus in the coming years.
The replacement hall is expected to cost $181.5 million and will have at least 600 beds, compared with roughly 400 students housed in the current Taft and Van Doren halls. The predicted demolition cost for the two halls was $1.5 million as of 2025, and the vote outcome remains unknown.
The players
University of Illinois Board of Trustees
The governing body of the University of Illinois system that oversees campus facilities, budgets, and major construction decisions across its campuses.
The details
The board is set to decide whether the campus can demolish the Fourth Street halls, which have no air conditioning and are not wheelchair accessible, once the spring semester ends. The university has meanwhile converted shared spaces like study rooms into temporary dorm rooms to absorb demand.
Timeline
2025: Demolition cost of the two halls predicted at a university senate committee presentation.
Thursday, November 12, 2026: Board of Trustees votes on demolition and residence hall design.
After spring semester 2027: Planned demolition of Taft and Van Doren halls.
Campus Housing Trajectory
The board's vote continues the stopgap approach the university took when it converted study rooms into temporary dorm rooms to absorb enrollment growth. Replacing two aging halls with a 600-bed building marks a shift toward a permanent capacity expansion.
Students who rely on campus housing in Champaign will feel the outcome directly, since the halls are scheduled to close after spring 2027 and the replacement will shape how many beds are available. Residents of the current halls, which lack air conditioning, face a timeline that depends on how the vote goes.
The takeaway
Campus housing decisions made now determine whether students have enough beds and adequate facilities for years to come. Students planning to live on campus should watch the board's vote and the spring 2027 timeline.
What happens next
The Board of Trustees vote is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 2026, and the halls are planned for demolition after the spring 2027 semester.
Further reading
For more on campus living, see College Life coverage of dorms and student housing in Champaign.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Illinois Newsroom.
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