Beginning in June, construction crews will take over the Arts Quad corner building, White Hall, overhauling the entire building and making it inaccessible throughout next year. In the process, the renovation will spur an entire set of departmental moves.
The architects for the building expect the construction to be completed by the fall of 2002.
“It promises to be a particularly attractive renovation that should result in a splendid facility,” said Jane Pedersen, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.
After the construction, the departments of history of art, government and near eastern studies will vacate their current offices and move into the refurbished building.
“We can’t do anything until White Hall [is finished],” said Philip E. Lewis, the Harold A. Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in an interview earlier this year.
Lewis noted that there are a string of departmental moves that are pending until the hall’s restoration is completed.
These moves include the offices of the Cornell-in-Washington program, department of american studies and possibly the intensive english program to the space left in McGraw Hall once the government and near eastern studies departments move out.
Although Lewis noted that language aid tapes may soon be available to students through their personal computers, Pedersen said that the language lab center now in Noyes Lodge will also move to McGraw — returning it back to the Arts Quad.
Prof. Andrew Ramage, history of art, argued in January his dissension with the departmental moves yet Pedersen contends that many more departments will be affected after White Hall’s construction.
The German department will also relocate to the basement of Goldwin Smith Hall when the Arts and Science’s career center, advising and admissions departments are moved to the first floor.
“We want to bring them together,” Pedersen said.
Sciences will also be affected when some of their departments move from Clark Hall to Rockefeller Hall.
“This is the plan at the moment,” Pedersen said.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center (LGBT) has also received a notice from administrators to move out of White Hall by May 14, according to an LGBT representative. The department of music also currently holds offices in the building.
In any event, Pedersen noted that the plan is fluid and may be changed when administrators finalize the moves this summer. Yet, Pedersen added that many of the moves depend on White Hall’s construction.
A cornerstone of the Arts Quad, White Hall was built in 1869 as the North University Building and, according to Pedersen, construction crews have only fixed major problems in the building.
“Over time, [construction crews] have fixed a problem here or painted a wall there but now it’s going to get a thorough renovation,” Pedersen said. “The entire building will be redone.”
Pedersen noted that the time-frame for project’s architects are working with is extremely short.
“[They will] be working like crazy