> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.huntsvillan.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Goliath - URL: https://www.huntsvillan.com/goliath/ - Published: 2026-08-19T12:17:20.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-19T15:43:00.000Z - Description: Sam Houston State University's thirst for new buildings runs up against declining numbers of in-person classes. - Author: Steph Mamber The [Smith-Hutson Building](https://www.buildingshsu.com/s/smith-hutson-business-building/index.html?ref=huntsvillan.com) on the Sam Houston State University campus was built in 1968 and expanded in 2005\. At that point, roughly twenty classrooms were spread throughout the building. Within ten years, classrooms started disappearing, one after the other. Some became faculty offices, one a golf lab, another a student lounge. Roughly one-third have now been turned to other uses, and the ones that remain aren't always full – even during peak hours. In the university's facilities planning, updated in 2023, the Smith-Hutson Building is [slated to expand by nearly 60,000 square feet](https://gato-docs.its.txst.edu/jcr:0cdefd04-5276-4e61-aa2b-4b1abf815a5b/2023-05-16%5FSHSU%5FBoard%20of%20Regents%20Presentation.pdf?ref=huntsvillan.com) – not as something long-term and aspirational, but as a "near term priority." This is business as usual for SHSU. Even as its students have flocked to online courses, reducing the need for classroom space, the university is planning to grow ever larger. This excess of supply over demand is hard to explain – and, indeed, the university is refusing to explain it. ## Big plans, small numbers The Smith-Hutson expansion is one of several near-term priorities in SHSU's 2023 Campus Master Plan. In the academic realm, there is also a new Arts and Media Building, a Science and Engineering Technology Complex and Quad, and an Active Learning Center that is [currently under construction](https://www.shsu.edu/news/2025-news-stories/alc-groundbreaking?ref=huntsvillan.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/08/CRP_0780-copy.jpg-edited.jpg) Construction of the new Active Learning Center on campus. Photo credit: Cade Crippin. Other priorities are non-academic: athletic facilities (including the [recent football stadium expansion](https://www.khou.com/article/money/business/houston-business-journal/sam-houston-state-university-football-stadium-renovation-complete/285-ccac4b96-3b7a-403c-bc05-df369439882d?ref=huntsvillan.com)), expansions to the physical plant, and a new Hotel and Conference Center. In the long term, several new residence halls are envisioned. The extra classrooms, at least, run into a big problem: there is no one to fill them. Over one-third of SHSU's credit hours are taken completely online, so that less classroom space is used now than ten years ago. The university's projection of future facilities needs collides with the current reality of fewer butts in seats. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/08/credit-hours.png) Data [here](https://www.shsu.edu/offices-departments/data-analytics-decision-support/interactive-fact-book?ref=huntsvillan.com). It wasn't always this way. A 2008 [master plan](https://docs.gato.txst.edu/321108/SHSU%20Campus%20Master%20Plan%202008-2020.pdf?ref=huntsvillan.com) was built on the assumption of 2% growth for the next twelve years, anticipating "over 21,000 students by 2020." The university hit its marks and then some, recording 21,650 students that fall. The growth projections in the 2023 master plan are, in many respects, even more optimistic. From 2021 -2031, it expects 13% growth in Huntsville, 35% growth in The Woodlands, 43% online. Reality has not cooperated: through 2025, growth has been well below predictions, and in fact has been *negative* for in-person classes in Huntsville and The Woodlands, which are below their 2021 levels. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/08/Credit-Hours-Breakdown-3-1.jpg) Note: Predicted values obtained by applying SHSU's anticipated enrollment growth rate to credit hours taken (closely related, but not equivalent, to enrollment). Hybrid courses are paired with in-person classes. Data [here](https://www.shsu.edu/offices-departments/data-analytics-decision-support/interactive-fact-book?ref=huntsvillan.com). This optimism may reflect pressure from the Texas State University System, to which SHSU belongs. In 2023, its chancellor, Brian McCall, set an [ambitious system goal](https://www.tsus.edu/news/news-releases/release-091525.html?ref=huntsvillan.com) of 100,000 students total by 2026\. This required 10% growth in just three years – a very high rate. Pessimism, even realism, wasn't an option.\[1\] ## A statistic named SUE Sam Houston State's classroom overcapacity has been registered by the agency overseeing all state universities, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. It assigns each public institution "[space usage efficiency](https://www.highered.texas.gov/space-usage-efficiency/?ref=huntsvillan.com)" (SUE) scores, based on the occupancy rates of classrooms and labs. In 2023, fast growing schools like UT-Arlington, UT-Dallas, and Texas State had scores far exceeding the Coordinating Board's benchmark of 75\. For labs, SHSU also surpassed this benchmark, but for classroom space it fell well short, with a score of 58\. This is just what you'd expect if online classes peel students away from classroom lectures, but labs still must be completed in person. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/08/CRP_0921-copy-1.jpg) The next building at SHSU will be named after this possum, a major donor to the university, who was recently spotted strolling about campus like he owned the place. Photo credit: Cade Crippin. This finding makes the university's new Active Learning Center, slated for completion early next year, all the more puzzling. But responsibility for green-lighting construction at SHSU – for buildings envisioned in the Master Plan or anything else – falls not to the coordinating board, but to the Texas State University System. It decided that a building with "flexible classroom environments, advanced instructional technology and open, contemporary spaces that support participatory learning" was worth the money. In the meantime, SHSU's classroom SUE score fell to 41 last year. ## And that's when things went off the rails The answer to these riddles lies with the university itself, so *The Huntsvillan* reached out for answers. We first asked, among other things, why classroom space is being added in Huntsville when in-person credit hours are down. The response: “Thank you for reaching out. Sam Houston State University respectfully declines to comment on these questions.” We get it. That's a "why" question, and those can be tough. So we followed up with simpler factual questions, such as whether the business building addition remains a "near-term priority" for the university. As of the close of business yesterday, there was no response at all.\[2\] We get it. *The Huntsvillan*'s mascot is a cartoon villain, and those can be scary. Still, Sam Houston State University has a [Department of Marketing](https://www.shsu.edu/academics/colleges/business-administration/management-and-marketing/?ref=huntsvillan.com), a [Department of Communications](https://www.shsu.edu/academics/colleges/humanities-social-sciences/communication-studies?ref=huntsvillan.com), and a whole separate [Department of Marketing Communications](https://www.shsu.edu/offices-departments/integrated-marketing-communications/?ref=huntsvillan.com) – and this is the best they can do? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/08/Huntsvillan-Image-3.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/45/95/45959c34-5dee-4d85-8f61-0c88439f0a1c/content/images/2026/08/Huntsvillan-Image-2.png) Every time SHSU shrinks from responding to **The Huntsvillan*, the guy on the left feels like the guy on the right. Steph Mamber, [President, CEO, COO, CFO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Huntsvillan, Inc.](https://www.huntsvillan.com/annual-report-to-shareholders/), was not amused. "I am not amused," she said, and flicked ashes from her cigarette onto the floor. "Next week's follow up article will continue as scheduled." --- The second article in this series will come out next week. The full 2023 Master Plan is online but tricky to come by, so the article links to an abridged version. \[1\] In fact, the system got there a year early, growing 12% in just two years – but not because of SHSU, whose enrollment dipped over that period. \[2\] We've been here before. A year ago *The Huntsvillan* tried to write a puff piece about an event SHSU was holding, but were prohibited from speaking with the organizer or other university participants, and moved on to do [this story](https://www.huntsvillan.com/imerj-ing-from-prison-into-art/) instead. Primary reporting on this article was done by **The Huntsvillan*'s Public Accountability Officer, Alison Wilkins. Most photos were taken by peripatetic photographer Cade Crippin. Learn more about Cade and see many examples of his work [here](https://www.photographybycade.com/?ref=huntsvillan.com).