CJ Day
Staff Writer
The Board of Trustees and the architectural firm Sasaki announced their final draft for the Campus Master Plan last month. Some of the changes outlined in the plan are a bit controversial, and nowhere is that controversy more deeply felt than in Wyoming Hall.
Wyoming Hall, which was first built in 1949 and
served as a residence hall before being turned into offices, is now the home
for the university’s Air Force and Army ROTC detachments, as well as many
services such as Transit and Parking and Human Resources. Residents were
surprised to learn that their building would be demolished in January to make
way for new residence halls.
“It caught us completely by
surprise,” said Sylvia Parker, the Interim Director of the Science and
Mathematics Teaching Center, located on the fourth floor of the hall. “There
were rumors for months beforehand, but there was no notification of the move
until two weeks ago.”
Those in the hall did not find out that their
building would be destroyed through official or expected channels – the first
sign for many that something was amiss was an all-campus email announcing the
final draft of the Campus Master Plan.
“There was absolutely no
transparency throughout this entire process,” said Parker. “They asked for all
this feedback for the plan, and they had us do all these surveys, but I never
had a conversation with anyone about the building being knocked down until
yesterday.”
Many in the building agreed with Parker. A source
who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisal said that even now, it is
unclear when exactly the move will occur. Those working in the building have
not been given any information about when they are expected to start the moving
process beyond a vague December to January timeframe, and that has led to many
planning headaches for those planning the move. Some employees in the building
said that they had to cancel vacations booked months in advance, and the lack
of news is a logistical nightmare.
“We’re in a holding pattern
right now, we can’t really plan for the future when we don’t know where we’ll
be in four months,” the anonymous source said . “For my department, December
and January is one of the busiest times of the year. It’s hard to believe that
our operations won’t be massively hindered by this move.”
Staff in Wyoming Hall will be relocated to Hill Hall on the west side of campus while construction takes place, an estimated time of three to five years. Those who were not opposed to moving offices in general were specifically opposed to relocating in Hill Hall.
“Our operations rely a lot on us collaborating with people in the College of Education,” said Parker. “The move to Hill Hall will mean that we have to split up, and it means a lot more schlepping for both of us.”
Other people in the hall
cited other issues with Hill Hall, including a lack of storage space compared
to Wyoming Hall, a lack of central areas to hold meetings and teach classes and
accessibility issues which will make it difficult for those with disabilities
to access the building’s resources.
“We’ve already started calling
it ‘Hell Hall’,” said the anonymous source. “It’s farther away from everything,
it’s older than this building and it’s got more asbestos, too.”
A petition from ROTC alumni trying to save
Wyoming Hall has 95 signatures as of press time. It argues that while the ROTC
program is one of the oldest programs on campus, it often gets ignored in favor
of more glamorous programs.
“The Army and Air Force ROTC
Departments are not being adequately considered in the future construction
plans of the University for a permanent location as part of the academic core
of the campus.” the petition says. The anonymous source said they feel very
much the same way.
“Staff gets treated like
second-class citizens on this campus,” they said. “If we were faculty or
students, this wouldn’t be happening to us.”
