Welcome!
Welcome to the University of Missouri–St. Louis! This campus has numerous educational opportunities, developmental programs, and support services which complement your academic success and experience. Residential Life and Housing would like to be a part of that experience and invite you to visit and explore the many benefits of living on campus.
Our residence hall, Oak Hall, offers "The Suite Life". Here, you can live, learn, experience, and grow with three other suitemates who share similar educational goals and personality traits. Each suite houses four residents. You will have your own individual room and a shared bathroom. In Oak Hall, you can live, learn, experience, and grow with your suitemates who share similar educational goals and personality traits. Each community in Oak Hall is led by a Resident Advisor who is a mentor, an event programmer, and an advocate for you!
Living on-campus is affordable, conveniently located, offers amazing amenities on site, and has live-in staff that are here to serve you!
Our Mission
The Office of Residential Life and Housing at the University of Missouri–St. Louis is committed to providing on-campus housing and maintaining a learning environment that encourages academic success, student engagement, personal growth, and personal responsibility.
Our Vision
We envision Oak Hall being a staple of the student experience. This isn’t just a building you walk into or a room you sleep in. Living on campus will enhance your time and investment in college and will better prepare you for your future. Here you will learn valuable life skills, increase your emotional intelligence, and begin practicing behaviors and habits that will help you reach your full potential. Oak Hall will also be a place for relaxation and fun! Residents of Oak Hall will have the opportunity to create lifelong friendships and memories.
Our Values
As a residential community, we are guided by the values of inclusion, access, integrity, success and engagement.
Our Commitment to Inclusive Excellence
The work of Residential Life and Housing is closely aligned with the University’s commitment to creating a culture of inclusion where all students, faculty, staff and visitors can thrive. To this end, we endeavor daily to foster inclusion and equity, to amplify the voices of our students and staff, and to provide avenues for understanding and awareness.
Residential Bill of Rights
You have a right to:
- Live in a clean and safe environment.
- Have personal privacy and space.
- Have free access to your room and public spaces without undue pressure from others to leave
- Study and sleep in an environment free of disturbances.
- Expect your suitemates will respect your personal belongings and follow agreed upon guidelines as established in your suitemate agreement.
- Host guests at agreed upon times and with the expectation that guests are to respect the rights of the host, suitemate(s), and other hall residents.
- Expect all disagreements to be discussed in an atmosphere of openness and mutual respect. When necessary, with the RA present for assistance.
History of South Campus
In 1976, the university purchased the former Marillac College, acquiring the cornerstone of what would become South Campus. In the 1990s, the university purchased the dormitory, chapel, and administration buildings of the Sacred Heart Sisters, which afforded on-campus living for the first time in UMSL's history. The Passionist Fathers’ Retreat Center was also acquired, adding more dormitory rooms for residential students. The University Meadows, a gated student apartment complex, was built in a public/private partnership utilizing undeveloped land adjoining South Campus.
In 1997, the Kathy J. Weinman Building was funded by private donations; today, it houses the Children’s Advocacy Center and the Center for Trauma Recovery. In 1999, the Provincial House buildings of the Daughters of Charity were added, and in 2002 the Normandy Hospital building was acquired, bringing the South Campus complex to 44 acres, more than 20 buildings, and 1000 residential units. In 2016, the Patient Care Center was opened, providing a new home for the College of Optometry and its on-campus Eye Center, which serves the community as well as University of Missourii–St. Louis students, faculty, and staff.
Today, South Campus is home not only to Residential Life and Housing, but also to the Pierre Laclede Honors College, the College of Education, the Barnes College of Nursing and Health Studies, and the College of Optometry.