The Department of History has been housed in historic McGraw Hall since 1872, with the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology Program located there since they were founded in 1962 and 1967, respectively.
However, the building beginning its three-year $110 million interior renovation in December has led to history and anthropology faculty members and graduate students packing their bags and bidding farewell to the hall, opening the doors to their temporary home in Mary Ann Wood Hall — located at the bottom of the slope on West Campus.
Many faculty members in both departments said they now share office space with up to three people and have moved office hours to virtual and by appointment due to their distance from the Arts Quad.
The third-oldest building on campus, McGraw Hall stands as a pillar for the College of Arts and Sciences, serving as Cornell’s first library and housing the University museum, law school and several other departments throughout its history. The McGraw Hall construction includes repairs to the interior of the building and adding updated technology, such as elevators and new heating and ventilation systems.
Moving to Mary Ann Wood Hall
Faculty members were solely responsible for packing their personal belongings before the Dec. 30 move-out date while the University contracted “professional moving companies” to transfer “faculty and staff belongings, furniture, AV technology and the Anthropology collections to the new space on campus,” Cornell Media Relations wrote in an email to The Sun.
The departments were responsible for allocating office space in the new location, according to University media relations. History junior faculty were given their own private spaces in Olin Library, while the anthropology department “prioritized providing private offices to junior faculty,” according to Prof. Chloe Ahmann, anthropology.
Prof. Aaron Sachs, history, said that storage and shelf space have decreased in the new office spaces. “Most of us now have access to only about 10 percent of our books because of limited shelf space,” Sachs wrote in an email to The Sun.
The majority of history graduate students did not get to see their allocated space in Mary Ann Wood Hall prior to the beginning of the spring semester, according to Madeleine Lemos, a Ph.D. candidate in history. In McGraw Hall, Lemos had access to her own office. Now, she has been provided a desk around several other people and lockable shelving and book storage in Olin Library.
Though graduate students are granted access to a communal space in Mary Ann Wood Hall, the office has been relatively vacant, according to Lemos.
“I will see three people working in there at a time, and there are a lot more empty desks,” Lemos said.
Amid the department’s move-in, the building has had minor facility issues, such as printer malfunctions, alarm system issues and bathroom maintenance. Lemos wrote in an email to The Sun that construction was happening just outside of Mary Ann Wood Hall and that the noise from the construction could be heard from her working space.
“The design and renovation of their swing space was done with consultation and participation of the departments involved,” University media relations wrote in response to the question of how they plan to support the transition. “Now that the department[s] have moved in, we continue to support them in the same manner as their spaces in McGraw Hall”
At the Bottom of the Slope
The remote location of Mary Ann Wood Hall has raised concerns from some professors and graduate students over changes to their routines including their ability to hold office hours, given the building’s placement at the bottom of Libe Slope — at least a 10-minute uphill walk from the Arts Quad.
“It’s a drag slogging up and down the hill to teach classes and attend most on-campus events, especially during an Ithaca winter,” Ahmann wrote in an email to The Sun.
While the University commented that the new location had been chosen because of its proximity to the Arts Quad, Sachs finds that its placement at the bottom of the slope presents an obstacle, not only for faculty and staff, but for students as well, including their ability to travel to office hours.
Both Lemos and Prof. Claudia Verhoeven, history, noted that the new building is much newer and “nicer” than McGraw Hall, which is a positive element of the location change.
Verhoeven holds office hours virtually through Zoom, scheduled or by appointment and in her shared office space in Mary Ann Wood Hall.
Lemos provides the same, but additionally offers the option to meet with students in centralized common spaces on campus, such as cafés. “I don’t want to inconvenience students to walk all the way down the hill,” Lemos said.
Adjusting to the location requires also adapting to new routines for graduate students and professors.
“I have had to re-invent all of my on-campus routines, and simply doing my job has gotten 100% more difficult,” Sachs wrote in an email to The Sun.
Lemos described the added challenge of not having keys to Mary Ann Wood Hall, which is an accommodation faculty had when housed in McGraw Hall.
“I used to be able to work in my office in McGraw on the weekends,” Lemos said. “The [new] building is locked on the weekends now, and after hours for everyone.”
Verhoeven similarly described changes to her working routine and said that it’s taking time for her to adjust.
Lemos feels that her ties to her graduate student peers have been severed and that her role as a teacher’s assistant for “Thinking About History With The Manson Murders” has posed difficulties in getting one-on-one interaction with her students and co-workers.
“I feel like I don’t see my grad community anymore,” Lemos said. “I feel detached from the students that I’m working with and everyone else who’s up here.”
Sachs wrote that “the move out of McGraw Hall has been not only disruptive but demeaning,” when asked how the move has affected him personally.
“My colleagues and I are committed to our students and will do everything in our power to keep our courses running smoothly,” Sachs said. “But to say that the Cornell administration has treated us with a lack of respect and consideration for how we do our work would be an understatement.”
