Evaluation deems university lacks in necessary space
A building space evaluation was released by the university Oct. 31 that suggested more space is needed on the University of South Dakota campus for academic neighborhoods, but this evaluation did not include residence halls.
Some of the most salient suggestions consultant Joe Bilotta outlined in his summary consisted of adding a wing to the Andrew E. Lee Memorial Medicine and Science Building and for the relocation of the nursing, physician assistant, head start and social work centers from Julian Hall.
Ideally, he said, the university would keep the hard sciences together, the health and medicine buildings together and the social sciences together on campus to create academic neighborhoods for students and faculty.
Dean of Students Kim Grieve said the evaluation focused on the areas directly on campus and not residence halls, “because that information is covered in the housing plan.”
The university will not tear down Brookman until they have an alternative housing situation, possibly located in the community, said Tena Haraldson, director of communications and media relations at USD.
“It’s only 48 people, but it’s always been thought that was something that should probably be looked at when other future changes were made,” Haraldson said. “It isn’t really on the list as something that would stay a residence hall.”
Haraldson also said since the residence hall is something the university knew was most likely going to get rid of, the space evaluation focused more on what could be placed in that space instead.
“The thing about Brookman is that it’s not just a residence hall. It’s the space it occupies on the land, because it’s a nice area to have parking and access to some of the other buildings over there,” she said.
A year-long study, Bilotta found there is currently 30 percent of non-assignable space, 14 percent residential space, 13 percent office space and special use space, 10 percent laboratory space and 5 percent classroom and study space.
Haraldson said non-assignable space is qualified as hallways and corners of buildings — places that cannot be actively utilized.
There is also 7 percent of campus space being used for general use, 3 percent for support and service and 1 percent for health.
Bilotta listed short-term solutions like renovations to the Lee Medical building and Noteboom Hall, I.D. Weeks Library, Dakota Hall, the Arts and Sciences building and Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts and creating more campus storage as short-term projects.
Long-term fixes consisted of the service center, Burr House, Native American Cultural Center, lab facilities, the law school and Fine Arts additions.
In her senior year at USD, Caitlin Schenkel said they agreed space on campus could be utilized differently.
“Julian is kind of useless right now,” Schenkel said. “I know the nursing department is in there, but most of Julian isn’t being used. It would be cool to see (the university) take it down and put something else up, like more classrooms or something.”
Haraldson said renovations to the Muenster University Center and athletic facilities were not listed as long-term or short-term renovations because current renovations are already in place on different plans.
She said the university’s most important short-term goal will most likely be the renovations to the I.D. Weeks Library, “because it is something that impacts students the quickest.”
“Everything is going digital now, so do we really need all those stacks in the library? We wouldn’t get rid of our collections, but we might find a more compact way to store them so there is more floor space for learning,” she said.
Schenkel said she does not think the library needs to be changed at all.
Senior Maddy Warder said reevaluating space in the library for more seating options would be a big step, but said she would also like the university to consider providing further services in the library for students, too.
“Three printers for 10,000 students is a little asinine, and unrealistic for sure,” Warder said.
Now that the evaluation has been released, Grieve said a committee will be formed to work on the future plans.
“We’ve just received the report, so we’ve just got it out to everybody, and then there will be committees formed that will include students that will work on how this will all work in the future,” she said.
