As the student population continues to grow, MSU is beginning  to build infrastructure to help support it.

Part of that infrastructure will be the new stadium that is going to be built where the Sikes Senter Mall is currently located. As of right now, the stadium is still being designed so that MSU can better raise funds for the project.

“We are now looking at the specifics,” President Stacia Haynie said. “You’ve got to have an electrical closet, you’ve got to have the AV equipment, et cetera. […] And it’s not going to be exactly that [plan] but it will give us an idea so that we can then work with consultants to understand cost.”

Alongside the stadium build, MSU is also updating the campus master plan. The master plan is the guidebook and goal sheet the university will refer to as the campus grows. The previous master plans had not been updated since 2014.

“The master plan we have, much of that has been accomplished,” Haynie said. “But how do we extend that plan?”

Parts of the plan focus on utilization of the spaces the campus already has. The other part of it focuses on potentially building more infrastructure to support student needs.

“The other space that they’re helping us [with] as we are reaching our enrollment goals, and actually exceeding them [is] housing. So student housing obviously is something we’ll need to think about,” Haynie said. “And as we think through the stadium, the development of that property, the campus where we will need additional student housing. What would that look like on our campus?”

This plan takes into account the number of students MSU could potentially have on campus at once, as well as the resources the campus would need to sustain those students.

“And of course, we’re really excited that that conversation is happening at the same time we’re talking about the stadium because those two things can’t be divorced,” Haynie said.