The HT Project

Feb 2020, 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 (including a current active water leak on 4th floor observed on 2/24/20), vandals are actively braking in and causing damage (new graffiti on large project screen in 109 observed 2/24/20), leftover chemicals were improperly handed (currently there are 2 medium sized high pressure gas cylinders - ammonia and other with unknown status 2/24/20), items of value have been stolen (including some historic chemistry glassware no longer in a once secured room 2/24/20), 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. 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 2020-2021 academic year. As the past chair of curriculum and FIDC, I need a break from the day to day operations of the College. Additionally, I am slated to be on sabbatical in the fall of 2021 and this project could work into my sabbatical proposal, b) ask to attend a Dept Chair's meeting to share the overall, and c) ask to bring this to the faculty during the May or 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

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 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, I believe has been using some physics spaces for storage.

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

This space is currently being used for physical plant storage. M&CS have 99% 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 (Dopheide) 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.

2) Remove/sell/store/redistribute furnishings.

- Office desks and book shelves.

- 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 (fish bowl - done)

- Engineering/physics project space

- Esports Arena (HT 109) - see bes

- Maker space/woodworking shop - see bes and jw

- Chemistry alternative plastics project - see bes

- other