JESTER CENTER

'Jester Center' or 'Jester Residence Hall' is a co-educational residence hall at The University of Texas at Austin, built in 1969. The residence hall was named after Beauford H. Jester, who served as the Governor of Texas from 1947 until 1949.

Contents

Facilities

Features

Urban legends

References

External links

Facilities

With a stated capacity of 2,945 students, it was the largest residence hall in North America at the time it was built.^[1] The building complex, which occupies a full city block, was the largest building in Austin, Texas when built and was the largest building project in University history.^[2]
The complex includes two towers: a 14-level residence (Jester West) and a 10-level residence (Jester East). The vast majority of rooms have built-in furniture. All rooms boast XL-twin beds. While some rooms have private or connecting baths, most students use community restroom facilities. Each tower also has study rooms, lounges, laundry rooms, and storage areas. From time to time, the study lounges have been converted into "supplemental housing" for students who are not allotted a standard residence hall room.
The residence hall also houses several offices for student services, tutoring, mentoring, academic advising, classrooms, and lecture halls. The center also contains an all-you-care-to-eat cafeteria known colloquially as "J2" (signifying Jester 2nd floor), an a la carte dining center known as "Jester City Limits" (an allusion to ''Austin City Limits''), a convenience store named "Jester City Market", an organic food store named "Jesta' Healthy Store" added in 2007, Jest A' Pizza, 40 Acres Bakery, a smoothie shop named "Freshens", and a Wendy's that was added in 2005.

Features

Baby grand pianos are located on the second floor of Jester West and on the first floor of Jester East, off the lobby, for the enjoyment of the residents.
The Fireplace Lounge in Jester West and the First Floor Lobby in Jester East boast big screen TVs with comfortable chairs for students to relax.
There are many lounge areas within Jester. All of them are great places to sit and talk with friends or just study. Residents often use these areas as meeting places or group study areas. Not only is a lounge located on each floor, but there is also a 24 hour quiet study lounge across from the Jester West Desk.
Jester is located right across the street from the PCL, Gregory Gym and Aquatics Center and many academic buildings.
Jester has a variety of room types. It is roughly half double rooms with community bath and half double rooms with connecting bath. There are a few double rooms with private bath on each floor. Jester also has several triple rooms and single rooms throughout the hall. Finally, Jester houses a significant number of students in supplemental housing spaces at the beginning of each semester. These rooms are study lounges made to house four students and are generally so popular that it’s hard to get students to move out of them when permanent spaces become available.
Jester Center also houses the Learning Center, the Center for African and African-American Studies, an Engineering, Communications and Natural Sciences advising office, the Career Exploration Center and many classrooms. It is not uncommon for students to live and have a class all right in Jester.
The Jester West front desk offers students the option to check out movies. They host a growing collection of DVDs that residents can check out for up to six hours.
Jester houses one large computer lab in Jester West. The lab features PC's. Loaded with all of the latest software, residents are encouraged to make use of the lab to write papers, finish homework or complete projects. This is open to all residents.

Urban legends

According to student folklore, the structure was designed by an architect who specialized in prison design. Additionally, Jester was once believed to have its own ZIP code. However, the University as a whole makes up a large part of the 78705 ZIP code, and Jester residence hall serves as a polling place for Precinct 148 in Texas Congressional District 21.^[3]
A true fact is that none of the windows in Jester can be opened, due to many suicides in the past.

References

1. Fooled You!
2. UT Austin Aries- VRC - Highlights
3. Travis County Clerk Election Day Polls accessdate = 27 March

External links

★ Photo and UT Location map

★ Dining facilities available in Jester Center

★ UT Learning Center