The campus is undergoing significant changes with renovations planned for the Richie Regan Recreational Center, Stafford Hall and Aquinas Hall.
According to Vice President of Administration Dennis Garbini and Associate Vice President of Facilities and Operations John Signorello, the Stafford Hall building is going to be replaced, the Cricklewood building has been renovated and the Aquinas Hall residence hall is being updated to meet the changing needs of the University. These projects will address the problems of classroom scheduling and provide additional housing on campus.
"Regarding Aquinas Hall, this project has been discussed for a number of years now," Garbini said.
Garbini said Stafford Hall will be revamped to include more classrooms.
Signorello said that the new building will include three levels of classrooms, creating 12 new rooms.
He said each room will have a capacity range of 35 students while one room will hold 50 and another 70.
"We've been working with Academic Affairs to build state-of-the-art classrooms for the future," Garbini said.
According to Signorello, the new Stafford Hall will be fully ADA (American with Disabilities Act) accessible and will include elevator access to all levels.
Garbini was not at liberty to discuss the cost of any renovation, but he did say that state money may be provided as part of a grant for Stafford Hall.
"The University is expecting to receive an allocation that will cover a significant portion of the costs for this building," Garbini said.
Signorello said the Cricklewood building would house the art suites and some offices from the current Stafford Hall.
As for the reason why the University sign was just recently placed on it, Garbini said there is "no mystery to it."
"We've been determining our long-term usage," Garbini said. "Before spending money on capital improvements, we needed to know that building would remain up and improve the exterior appearance before our name was placed on the building."
Garbini said the name of the building has not been decided yet.
"The naming of these buildings is subject to any donor," Garbini said.
Aquinas Hall will be getting a fourth floor added to it, according to Signorello. It will also have another wing built on the right side, near Corrigan Hall and Bayley Hall.
"You'll see a new entrance lobby with elevators and a fourth level will be added to the entire building that will have student rooms and lounges," Signorello said.
The construction on Aquinas will be done in three phases, with a portion done this summer, the next during the school year and the final during summer of 2014, according to Signorello.
Garbini added that plans are approved by the Board of Regents and will be submitted to the Village of South Orange the first week of March for approval.
As for the Rec Center, Signorello said they are still renovating the fitness center and the training room, which includes the men's locker room.
He said the current construction phase will be ongoing during the fall term.
Garbini added that the construction wall, currently shortening the Field House track, is just in place until the second story of the Rec Center is complete and then the wall will be removed.
Students interviewed, especially commuters, were concerned with the parking space rather than the housing issues.
Freshman commuter Sarah Ebady said she believes that the University is headed in the right direction but is worried that they aren't thinking of commuters.
"It is a good idea that the University is expanding, but I think that it is not right to focus so much on the dorming issue when the bigger issue is finding parking for us commuters," Ebady said.
Alexis Paiz, also a freshman commuter, agreed with Ebady.
"I know a lot of students that complain about finding parking," Paiz said. "It takes about 15 or 20 minutes to find one spot."
Some residents said they felt that the University's main expansion should be parking spaces. A student who chose to remain anonymous said that "commuters don't have enough space to park and it results in being late to class."
Student Marissa Hutton was concerned with whether tuition might increase due to the expansions.
"With the expansion of the Rec Center and now Aquinas, I can see how the tuition might be impacted," Hutton said. "The funds must come from somewhere."
Boland Hall resident Corina Hendren said, "The University should have the infrastructure if they want to bring in more students."
Lindsay Rittenhouse can be reached at lindsay.rittenhouse@student.shu.edu.
Patrick Maroun can be reached at patrick.maroun@student.shu.edu.
