A task force of the Council on the Graduate School of Business carefully studied GSB needs and concluded that it is not enough simply to build a space to contain the learning process. We need to extend the vital give-and-take of the M.B.A. experience beyond hallways and study rooms. The task force recommended a dedicated residence near the integrated campus as an ideal way to enhance and enrich the educational experience for M.B.A. students.

In a dedicated residence, the young professionals we enroll will make friends, debate issues, cooperate, compete, and even form partnerships for the future. They will share a common experience that builds bonds, and, ultimately, a stronger GSB community. Provide them with communal space and they will form lifetime loyalties to each other and to the school.

This has been true in the past. Decades ago, Laughlin Hall, a small house on the corner of 55th Street and Blackstone Avenue, was totally dedicated to business students. Alumni today tell me they still fondly remember that experience and the lifelong friends they made there. What Laughlin Hall once offered on a small scale we hope to recreate for more students.

The residence we envision will house 400 students. Since we have nearly 1,200 full-time students enrolled each year, living there will be an option, not a requirement. We hope that many first-years will take advantage of the option and that all students will make the residence a meeting place on campus, even when they live elsewhere.

Done right, an M.B.A. residence will greatly enhance our ability to attract top students. Some of our competitors––Stanford, Harvard, Kellogg, and Tuck, to name a few––have such residences. We already have a $6 million gift pledge for the residence and continue to seek the approximately $9 million more we would need to do it right. Rental income and debt financing should do the rest.

To do this right, and thus prove attractive to students, the residence must be conveniently close to our planned integrated campus. Our mature and independent students require apartments, not dormitory-style housing. They need to be near transportation, shops, and services to support their busy lifestyles.

Finding an ideal location on campus is a considerable challenge––one we are still working on. Contrary to some misleading e-mails circulated to many alumni, we never reached an agreement with the university to build on the International House site. To set the record straight, we’ve included in this issue a summary of that site selection process and the GSB’s role in decisions about International House. (See “GSB Statement Clarifies Facts about I-House. ” ) We had always been considering alternative sites and continue to do so. Currently, two sites are under serious consideration––the corner of 56th Street and Stony Island, where a red brick university-owned warehouse/repair shop overlooking the Museum Park has been located for decades, and south of the Midway on the corner of 61st Street and Woodlawn Avenue. No other competing use has been suggested for either site. Since this envisioned M.B.A. residence hall in either location will not create a conflict with any other unit of the university or with the GSB faculty, alumni, or staff, this seems to me to provide the perfect opportunity to let our students––the only customer in this case––play a major role as the decision makers.

Accordingly, Deputy Dean Mark Zmijewski and I are organizing committees of current campus students who will help us plan all aspects of the building. Specifically, we’re asking for student input on architect selection, parking, design of the apartments and common areas, input on technology and other features, as well as the site.