The contractors working on the renovation have agreed to switch to a nightime work schedule when classes resume after Flyback Week. This is the only sure way to prevent noise leaking into the large lecture halls. This is good news for students and faculty who have classes in Rooms 100, 105 and 110. But be forewarned, there will be frenetic activity next week as they try to get as much work done as possible while classes are not meeting.
Dean Edley has called for a serious party on October 9 from 4-6pm to bid farewell to the grassy courtyard and to say hello to the new building project. Details will follow but the Dean knows a good party when he sees one, so I suspect that this one should be memorable. The wise will mark their calendars.
The BHSA has e-mailed everyone a questionnaire/petition to determine how many students want lockers. They asked for responses by the end of today. A meeting is scheduled with the Dean for Thursday afternoon to go over the responses. The Law School (to anthropomorphize a bit) wants as many lockers as are needed, but does not want to install banks of then that will go unused. (The issue is space. Space around here is like gold, and if you have been following the markets, gold is more precious than ever). A realistic estimate of the demand is crucial. Therefore speak now or forever hold your peace.
The noise from the renovation continues to invade the large classrooms. As one who teaches one of the affected classes, I understand the problem. The project manager is going to devote himself to remedying the situation. We are working on a special e-mail notification system which would allow students or faculty to e-mail from class to get help, but the logisitics of having someone on call who is close enough to the site to help are proving tough. Right now sending Dean Hirshen and Mindi M. an e-mail works as well as anything. The project manager says he will stay on the site to monitor things. We shall see. On the bright side, next week, when no classes meet, the construction crews can drill to their heart’s content.
There is now a banner in the lobby outside Booth Auditorium, ( the area offically known as the Laub Lobby or the Home of Bake Sales) that depicts a timeline of the renovation project. It is placed a little too high for one as myopic as me to discern much, but I am guessing that it will give you a good visual guide to what is happening.
We are working on coming up with a way to get a measure of how many folks need a locker, beyond what the BHSA petition will tell us. Using e-mail to accomplish thismakes sense but we need a method that will yield useful results. Finding a way to make mailboxes available for students is also a priority.
Lots of issues came out at the Town Meeting yesterday. Here is a summary of where things stand. To try to stay organized I will make a list. No doubt I will forget something or get something wrong. Let me know if I do.
1. The Renovation of the west basement into the new student area should be done by the end of the semester. The plan is to move everyone who was displaced to the Hearst Annex back over the Semester Break. Students complained about the noise from the renovation disrupting classes in the large lecture halls. I can attest that this problem annoys both faculty and students. The General Contractor is trying to police the various sub-contractors. There is to be no noisy work after 8:30am. The policing is not always working. Suggestions were made that when noise happens, students should e-mail Annik and Mindi is Student Services so that they can act. A special e-mail, maybe along the lines of “noise@,” might be set up. More to come on this issue. Folks also talked about the frigid climate in the large classrooms. This is a larger problem, one rooted in the poor installation of the heating and ventilation system 50 years ago. There is a plan and they are working on it, but no short term joy looks likely.
2. The Dean stated that we made a mistake on the lockers. Based on the information that was at hand, we thought that 500 would do it. (I am using the royal “we” here). This was wrong and he and Kathleen both apologized. We are trying to determine how many lockers we actually need. Students who want a locker should sign the BHSA petition so that we will know. A student pointed out that some folks will not see the petition and that we should use an e-mail solicitation of need, one that will elicit a reliable number of responses. We will try to do so. The first 500 lockers, which will be located the new west basement area, should be assembled and installed by October 1. The others will take some time to arrive, but everyone who wants a locker will get one. A student suggested that some folks do not use their lockers as anything but mailboxes. Could we provide mail boxes? We will work on this one.
3. The issue of how to get student input into the building process came up several times. The two students appointed by BHSA to serve on the Building Committee cannot provide enough input. It was suggested that BHSA assemble an Advisory Board that can survey a wider range of student views and that this group should meet with the Building Committee. Everyone seemed to think that this was a good idea.
4. The fence around the new construction area will go up on or about October 15. Demolition and construction will begin soon after that date. The Dean wants to have a party to commemorate this event. More news on that point to follow. The Dean showed slides of how the classrooms and the library will be insulated for sound. Double walls, double paned windows and baffles are part of the plan. The construction folks and the University types who work with them assure us that this will successfully contain the sound. We shall see.
5. Traditional in-class exams for the fall semester will be scheduled at 4pm. This is after the work stops each day. We were afraid that no matter how good the sound containment was, some distraction of noise or vibration would leak through. Given how tense everyone is during exams, we worried that there could be a disaster. Thus we asked instructors in second and third year classes to use take-home exams this semester if possible. (Most classes have moved to take home finals or papers in the second and third year already, there was a fairly small group of folks still doing it the traditional way). Some just could not do it, but enough did to allow us to offer in class exams to all first year classes and to those second and third year classes which could not do without them, with everything scheduled at 4pm. This is a case of worst case scenario planning. If the sound containment works so well that something like this is not needed, or if this method poses more problems than it solves, we will go back to the normal scheduling in the spring.
6. There was discussion of the problem of AirBears connectivity. This is not related to the construction but it is causing some chaos. Patricia Donnelly, the head of IT apologized for not communicating better with students about the problem. It is serious and the Campus has joined with us in trying to track down the rogue machine that is blocking folks. More on this issue to follow.
7. There was considerable discussion of how students can communicate their concerns and ideas about the building. The Dean urged folks to talk to Dean Hirshen and Mindi in Student Services, to post on this Blog or to talk directly with me, to go to Kathleen Vanden Heuvel in the Library or to talk to BHSA. We are open to any form of communication. It is in everyone’s interest to identify problems as quickly as possible and to try to fix them. Something might cause you distress but we will not know unless you tell us. The new construction will be a test of how well we can all communicate and react. Any ides are welcome. Everyone understands that some folks do not read their e-mails any longer, we need to find a way to get the word out when necessary. I will post more regularly on this Blog, but that is the barest of beginnings.
Bob Berring
This blog HAS been quiet. So much news has come from so many directions that reposting items here seemed a bit redundant. The classrooms are open for business, which is good. The new student center is progressing, which is also good. Some drilling has disrupted classes but that is supposed to be fixed, which should be good. The Law Library really stepped up and moved the book check operation to the Patron Services Desk, which has been a help. It is far from perfect, but we are getting by. The actual lockers are on the way. Lots of discussion about how many lockers we will actually need is percolating. More to come on that front in the coming weeks as we sort out what we have and what is needed. The courtyard has been prepared for the coming Big Dig. We shall see what we shall see on that one. It is worth noting that the tree-sitters exit means that serious work will begin on the new athletic facility just northeast of the law school. That may be part of our life too. What have I forgotten?
