State, donors need to help pay for campus building demolitions and upgrades
“Out with the old and in with the new” is a saying that has been around for ages, but in the case of USD, getting rid of old things is not so easily done.
As buildings grow old, they are remodeled or torn down to make room for new ones. This, however, is a struggle for South Dakota’s public universities and perhaps others across the nation. Here in South Dakota, the state doesn’t fund its public universities for infrastructure and building maintenance.
Without proper funding, universities can’t make updates, repairs and renovations that are necessary to keep buildings safe and usable.
USD alone is about $50 million short of the amount needed to complete its list of projected repairs and updates to buildings campus-wide between the years 2017 and 2026. The grand total of estimated cost for these projects is $109.4 million according to the university’s 10-year maintenance and repair list.
While some updates on the list are minor, they are still important. Buildings are the are the bones of a university. Their well-being is completely necessary for USD to function, because without them, students, faculty and staff cannot come together and conduct the amazing work they complete every day.
For the year 2017 alone, there are 22 proposed maintenance and repair projects under the Public Health, Safety and Compliance category, totaling more than $2.4 million in estimated cost. There are another 50 projects under the Building Integrity category with a total estimated cost of $9.1 million for 2017.
Some buildings on this campus need to be torn down rather than repaired, but the university doesn’t have funding for this either. There are plenty of donations that roll in when people want their name on a new building being built on campus, but there’s not many who donate wanting to help tear down old buildings.
Both the state of South Dakota and donors need to start stepping in to fund the demolition and upgrading of old buildings. Without this help, the university will have to keep deferring projects it cannot afford with the roughly $6 million it has each year for maintenance and repairs.
These old buildings decrease the attractiveness and safety of campus. The universities in South Dakota, including USD, are doing what they can to make sure the buildings are cared for and updated, but they don’t have the funds to make them perfect.
They can’t be expected to pay for all of these projects on their own as it’s extremely expensive. If the state were to give public universities some financial help for these important building projects, it could make our schools more attractive to visitors and prospective students.
