Collegio Online

Issue date: 8/30/07 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Shiho Itooka/Collegio Matthew Vaughn, left. freshman in actuarial science, and Cameron Carr, freshman in business, are in their world geography class, where they have to sit on metal folding chairs at 109 Grubbs Hall.

Remodeling of Grubbs Hall lecture studios has been temporarily postponed mid-progress, leaving many students with nothing more to sit on than metallic folding chairs.
"The change is taking some getting used to," said Michael Scott Purdon, junior in biology. "We had our first quiz on Friday and I had to write on my book resting on my knees. The chairs are very close together, too."
The remodeling project has been a point of discussion among the employees of the Office of Facilities Planning since June, 2005, and was put into action last summer. The existing ceilings, chairs, chalkboards and lighting fixtures were all removed and are in the process of being replaced. There are also new insulated metal doors standing at the exterior of Grubbs Hall along Joplin St., as well as new wood doors on classroom closets.
The most pressing issue, however, came with the removal of the lecture halls' old wooden school desks. Lindell Haverstic, an architect in the Office of Facilities Planning, said that the delivery date of the halls' new chairs has been repeatedly pushed back by the product distributors.
Since the rooms had to be usable by the first day of school, Grubbs Hall faculty and staff had to seek special permission to use the unfinished rooms for classes. After contacting the State of Kansas, permission was granted to the school with the caveat that the rooms' seating plan, which had been approved and developed by the building's remodeling architect, was followed. The seats also had to be held together with clips so they would not end up scattered all over the room and that an exit path was maintained.
"We just hate that it happened this way because we know it's uncomfortable," Haverstic said. "Everyone's been very gracious, but we know it's not an ideal situation."
Although many people might see the situation as a nuisance, others are looking on the bright side. Communications professor, Shirley Drew, started a pool with her Speech Communication classes in order to see who could come closest to guessing the date on which the chairs will finally arrive. (Drew remains skeptical of the idea that the chairs will arrive, as expected, on Sept. 7 for room 109 and Sept. 14 for room 107.) The winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to the Mall Deli. If more than one person guesses the correct date, she will draw one of their names to receive the prize.
"The other improvements to these classrooms are wonderful, so I knew we could live with the folding chairs for a while," Drew said. "However, I was concerned about the inconvenience to students. It's difficult to take notes sitting in a folding chair. I decided to make a game of it instead of focusing on the negative."

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