Spring 2002
From the dean: Preserving today's assets for tomorrow's students
Photo by Tom Foley
It's surely an exaggeration to say that geography is destiny. Still, it's generally understood that a sense of place generates a sense of identity and belonging--and helps bring people together around a common purpose. At the University, that common purpose is teaching and learning.
That's one reason why we're so excited about completion of the West Bank Arts Quarter in 2003, when the new Art Building will open its doors and all of the College of Liberal Arts' (CLA) arts programs will reside in a four-square-block area of campus. And that's why we're now focusing our energies on the Historic Humanities District, which will one day encompass all of the college's humanities programs--including English, cultural studies and comparative literature, classical and Near Eastern studies--our language departments.
As this issue of CLA Today goes to press, the fate of two of the district's historic buildings--Jones Hall and Nicholson Hall--hangs in the balance, and so does the future vitality of the programs that will serve students in those facilities. As part of its commitment to undergraduate education, as well as to historic preservation and responsible stewardship of assets, the University has made renovation of these buildings a priority for 2002. If the Minnesota Legislature comes through, these aging and underused buildings--both on the National Register of Historic Places--will be brought into the 21st century to create state-of-the-art learning environments for our students.
Some of you (or your great-grandparents) may remember Nicholson Hall from its better days, when it buzzed with activity--housing first the chemistry department, then a men's union, later the University bookstore, and still later, General College. That hubbub is no more. In the early 1990s, this venerable building, sagging and shopworn, faced possible demolition.
The price tag for renovation, some said, was too high. Tear it down and build something new in its place. But others said the loss not only of a campus landmark but of a slice of University history was surely too high a price to pay. Fortunately, the preservationists won--aided by President Yudof, who came to the rescue in 1996, vowing at his inauguration to save the University's historic buildings. He has been making good on that promise ever since, with the help of our elected representatives--witness Walter Library, which has recently reopened following three years of restoration.
Now, in 2002, we've asked the legislature to pass a bonding bill that will allow the renewal to continue. Meanwhile, Nicholson remains standing but is two-thirds empty, beleaguered by outdated systems, deteriorating walls and foundation, a sagging roof, mold, and asbestos. Its last human inhabitants will clear out in June, leaving the building utterly vacant. This is a terrible, terrible waste of a valuable historic structure, especially on a campus where demand for teaching and learning space is so high.
Of course space is just the half of it. For us to meet our students' needs and educate leaders for this century, we must have buildings designed to accommodate new technologies and new methods of teaching and learning across disciplines. Renovation will not simply make the building habitable. It will create a vibrant, resource-rich center for undergraduate teaching and learning, attracting and serving students not only from the humanities but from all across the campus.
This issue of CLA Today highlights some of the people and programs that will benefit from renovation of Nicholson Hall--including the roughly 1,000 students who take freshman seminars each year in CLA. The winners in this enterprise will be our undergraduates, who will have 24 new technology-enhanced classrooms; a Language Center with spacious, leading-edge facilities for language learning; an advising community for students; and a centrally located Student Writing Center, which offers tutoring in writing for students in disciplines across the college.
In nearby Jones Hall (built 1901), also slated for renewal, there will be new teaching and learning spaces for the roughly 7,000 student registrants each year in cultural studies and comparative literature and classical and Near Eastern studies; a shared library; faculty offices and meeting spaces; and, of course, classrooms. Meanwhile, precious space in historic Folwell Hall will empty out, significantly easing crowding for departments remaining in that building--including our very popular language departments.
At this moment, we are optimistic. Legislators on both sides of the aisle are voicing their support for the University's capital bonding request--including $24 million needed for renovation of 110-year-old Nicholson Hall. In these difficult economic times, many legislators are eager to support capital bonding projects that will provide an immediate economic stimulus by putting Minnesotans to work. Funding for such projects is understood to be an investment in Minnesota's future.
As we learned so vividly from our experiences with Ford and Murphy Halls and the Art Building, the support of CLA faculty, students, and alumni is critical to our success. As our elected leaders grapple with difficult funding issues, a groundswell of public and University support can make an enormous difference. It has happened before, and it will happen again.
P.S. I invite you to walk the University's Heritage Trail in person or on the Web (http://www.uservices.umn.edu/heritage/index.htm), stopping by to visit the buildings in the Humanities District whose lives span more than 100 years of University history. Here, generations of students have studied everything from physics and calculus to languages and literature, history and philosophy, art and music. In renovating these buildings, we are reaching into the University's heritage, and into the lives of the people who have taught and learned in its classrooms and lecture halls, to preserve and renew its architectural, educational, and human legacy for generations to come.