The HT Project

Feb 2020, (minor updates 5/6/22) bes

A Proposal to MC Administration

Haldeman-Thiessen (HT) Science Building has been an integral part of the Monmouth College campus for 46 years. Opening in 1974 the building housed the physical science departments of Physics, Math and Computer Science, Psychology, Chemistry and Biology. The basement was also the home of a small theater. In addition to the academic departments, the physical plant currently operates boilers (for heat) in the basement and the evaporators (for cooling) on the roof that remotely provided hot and cold water to heat and cool numerous campus buildings. Even today, the CSB air conditioning (cooling) comes from the roof of HT. In the fall of 2013, all these academic departments moved into the newly constructed Center for Science and Business (CSB).

The luxury of being able to transition from one building to another was quite nice allowing the new residents of CSB to transition over slowly during the summer/fall of 2013. Frequent return trips over the subsequent years allowed departments to gathered needed equipment and supplies. Needless to say, not all items in HT were needed in CSB and with only minor exception, all needed academic items have been removed from HT. At this time, HT appears essentially abandoned.

As is the case for "abandoned" properties, numerous failures have resulted. Water leaks were found days after they started, vandals actively break into the building and cause damage, leftover chemicals were improperly handed, items of historical value have been stolen, and the space has general become in total disarray.

If HT were not the home to the heating and cooling facilities, this building would be slated for demolition. The physical structure of the building is strong, but the room heating and AC (where existent) were built at a time that did not full respect the conservation practices of the day. Repairs to the HVAC system were nearly impossible due to the building design. Any renovation to the building would require a complete internal demolition.

So, what is the future of HT? A number of costly options exist: 1) A new heating/cooling plant could be constructed in a alternate location (like in the HT parking lot) and then HT demolished, 2) A complete renovation of the existing building could be done in order to use this space as a new student center, 3) bits and pieces of HT could be re-used for facilities storage (currently being done), or 4) there was even talk about building a football field observation deck that could host VIPs. What has happened in the last few months is that the first floor of HT has been partitioned, so that the space once known as the "fish bowl" can be used as a MC call center and now a COVID testing center. This recent work is a great leap forward considering the abandoned state of the building.

It is time to prepare for the future of HT. It is clear that no large dollars are available to renovate or demo HT, so what next? I propose the following initiatives begin as soon as possible.

Initiatives

Establish Policy

1) Define leadership of project.

I, Brad Sturgeon offer my services as the project coordinator for "The HT project." I spent 6 years in HT and was integrally connected with the physical structure as I was Doc Kieft's cohort in many facilities repairs. Over the years I have developed a strong working relationship with the employees at Facilities Management and I believe that I can work well with Sarah Young and other needed staff to move this project along. I have a strong working relationship with department members tied to HT and can move this agenda forward. Additionally, I have a strong working relationship with Information Systems if and when computing/networking issues develop. As a side note, as a physical chemist who teaches thermodynamics, I have used the heating and cooling facilities in HT as a live demonstration for multiple years and now use CSB for a similar purpose, so I have a reasonable structural understanding of building operations.

2) Make clear to all involved that financial resources are nearly zero and requests to do upgrades to the existing space will be denied.

If I (BES) am assigned project coordinator, the Chemistry Department has agreed to provide support (people and $) from Kieft Summer Research Program. In full respect of the fund agreement, the Chemistry Department believes that Doc Kieft would be 100% in favor of allowing summer research students to work 6-10 hours per week (for 8 weeks) to salvage items in HT. Any minor expenses incurred could be covered by the programs consumable budget.

3) Define/engage with interested faculty/staff.

With the understanding that HT will be standing 5-10 years from now, we must define best use practices from both a facilities and academic perspective. This will require input from numerous campus members. If I were assigned project coordinator, I will a) ask Faculty Senate to have this be my service assignment for the 2022-2023 academic year (while maintaining my organizing role in Scholars Day), b) ask to attend a Dept Chair's meeting to share the project idea and collect info/interest, and c) ask to bring this to the faculty during the Sept faculty meeting.

4) Take rough inventory of items in HT.

This is already been done in my (BES) head.

5) Announce project to the faculty and ask for academic partners.

Cleaning out the building

[NOTE (5/6/22): the below information needs updating] 1) Remove all non-permanent items, store if critical, sell if desired, or trash if necessary. The following departments can be in charge of their respective floors and work at a pace that is conducive to their desires. The project coordinator/administration should set a target date and negotiate with individual departments on timing, as well as needed resources. The existing dumpster could be used, but not interfere with current needs (ie. trash could be staged at the rear of the building and dumped as space is available).

- Physics (1st floor/basement)

This space has been vacated ~50% and the IS department, as well as facilities management, I believe has been using some physics spaces for storage.

- Math and Comp Sci (2nd floor - west side)

This space is currently being used by Facilities management for storage. Math&CS have 100% vacated the space. The chair of this department (Mayfield) should be contacted and asked to sign off on the space.

- Psychology (2nd floor - east side)

This space is 95% vacated. The chair of this department should be contacted and asked to sign off on the space.

- Chemistry (3rd floor)

This space is highly vandalized with lots of items not necessary in CSB, but many do have value. If this proposal is acceptable to the administration, the Kieft summer research students (summer 2020) will assist chemistry faculty/staff in the removal of non-permanent items.

- Biology (4th floor)

This space is highly vandalized with lots of items not necessary in CSB, but many do have value. The Biology Department will need to make many tough decisions.

2) Remove/sell/store/redistribute furnishings.

- Office desks and bookshelves.

- Lab benches/sinks. This will be a more challenging task since it will require some plumbing resources.

Note: some asbestos impregnated sinks exist and need to be removed without physical breakage.

- Built-in classroom seating...???...leave for now?

Begin using the building

With the understanding that heating and cooling facilities will NOT be provided and that there is limited restrooms (1st floor only), spaces can be allocated to the following:

- MC Call center/COVID Testing Center (fish bowl - done)

- Engineering/physics project space - no inquiry yet made.

- eSports Arena (HT 109)

BES has been a part of an initial investigation to bring eSports (gaming) to campus. eSports will NOT happen on this campus due to lack of funding; this was the conclusion of a meetings/webinar involving the Athletic Director (Haynes), Dean of Students (Hutchinson), VP for Admissions (English), IS (Carlson) and others. At the meetings only 2 attendees (BES and Kyle Martin) were in favor of moving forward without significant financial support. Student attendees echoed the general interest of students and were in agreement that a major financial investment was not necessary to move this initiative forward. I (BES) propose to clean up HT 109 and return it to a useful state. This work would be done by Kieft summer research students and BES during the summer. Some minor investment (from the Kieft consumables) will be made in LCD monitors and possibly a projector, if not currently available on campus. Additionally, the VR systems (8) currently in CSB will be moved into HT 109 and integrated into this technology/eSports arena.

- Maker space/woodworking shop

A substantial proposal has been put forth by BES and Janis Wunderlich related to an Innovation Center on campus. Although this space will not accommodate most of the proposed items, it will be a way to begin to assess interest in the innovation/maker movement on campus. Substantial amount of woodworking equipment has been acquired (by BES) over the past few years and is currently located in the Physics Machine Shop. It is not a preferred arrangement to have both wood and metal cutting equipment in the same location due to wood dust fouling. With the new CNC machine now installed, there will be a need to use this Physics space to prep materials and it is my recommendation to remove the wood working equipment from the Physics Machine Shop. It is anticipated that the Theater Dept might also be involved in this use.

- 4th Floor Green House

This space is a perfect location for preparing starts for the educational garden and 6-acre farm. No inquiry has been made in this regard.

- Chemistry alternative plastics project - see BES

- other