This year’s freshman class, and the freshman classes of years to come, will not see the next step in the college halls initiative come to be by the time they graduate.
The plan to demolish the current Kissam Quadrangle and construct two new College Halls in its place was halted last January, when Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos placed a hold on most major construction projects, leaving many students wondering if the project had been scrapped or just postponed.
While there were plans to begin work as early as the summer of 2010, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Richard McCarty said in a Jan. 28 interview, administrators are still uncertain when physical progress will be made due to the university’s current financial standing.
“So much depends on the economy. We continue to evolve with our ideas, but there is no time frame here,” Barge said. “We’re excited about Kissam … but we just don’t know when we’ll be able to break ground.”
Associate Provost and Dean of Students Mark Bandas echoed Barge, saying the initiative will depend mainly on the state of the economy.
“I believe that the College Hall program in Kissam Quad will proceed within the next decade,” Bandas said. “The timing of the construction of the College Halls is contingent on economic recovery and philanthropy.”
Despite the administrators’ uncertainty about the timeline for the demolition and construction for the two halls, they each said they had hope for eventual construction.
“It’s just not the right time to take on a significant cost that would allow us to demolish the current Kissam Quad area and then construct two college halls on that side,” McCarty said in January. “… If all goes well, we’ll start to see cranes over in the Kissam site.”
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