College may gut McCullough

Author: Brian Fung

The College's McCullough Student Center could see extensive renovations to its internal structure completed by as early as 2010, according to administration officials familiar with the project. Though the proposal has yet to be confirmed in any final form, College officials say the initiative may involve the overhaul of multiple areas of the building.

Dean of the College Tim Spears touted the renovation project as part of a response to student complaints that the College social scene lacks energy.

"It's going to be very difficult to satisfy everybody's social needs in one fell swoop," said Spears, "but we can move forward in a deliberate way and try and make enhancements where it's possible."

The responsibility for planning the renovations falls to a committee, chaired by Spears, which will investigate the project's feasibility over the next several months. According to the committee's schedule, the feasibility study should be completed by spring 2008, paving the way for design, construction permit applications and actual renovation work over the following two years.

The ultimate time frame for the plan, however, depends largely on the scale of the job. Though much of the project's attention will be directed towards the revitalization of the McCullough Social Space, other areas that may see overhaul include the Juice Bar and the building's complex network of hallways and corridors that can seem confusing to visitors and new students.

The College is exploring a number of possible renovation plans, according to Spears.

"One of them would be a 'minimal intervention,'" said Spears. "One would be what [planning firm Michael Dennis & Associates] refers to as a 'maximum intervention.' That is, 'this is what we could do if we wanted to do x, y, z - and this is what we could do if we wanted to do x, y, z and a, b, c and d.'"

Under the minimal-intervention proposal, the administration would concentrate its efforts on the Social Space. Preliminary plans include provisions to cut away part of the stage, remove the mezzanine entirely, install a set of pull-out bleachers and improve the room's acoustics.

By contrast, a more invasive plan would call for - in addition to the Social Space changes - replacing the area behind the Juice Bar with a pub, as well as importing College bookstore operations from Proctor Hall by building a separate McCullough annex for it.

"The current bookstore space at Proctor Hall is too small, according to college bookstore industry standards," wrote Bookstore Manager Bob Jansen in an e-mail.

Jansen, who is also a member of the committee conducting the feasibility study, added that Proctor requires a physical overhaul.

"That process is easier with the bookstore not in the way and in a new location," he wrote.

Spears emphasized that the prospect of moving the bookstore was closely tied to the fate of Proctor Hall in general and the College's plans for the Commons, as a whole.

"The life span of Proctor is pretty short," said Spears. "It doesn't have much longer to live, but it keeps limping on and we keep trying to prop it up. The bottom line about Proctor is that most architects that have looked at that building have said it's got a lot of problems with the foundation, leakage, so on and so forth, so eventually that building's going to have to go away."

If the bookstore ultimately moves to McCullough, said Spears, administration officials must then decide what to do with the vacated space in Proctor. The College is unlikely to pour much more than a few million dollars into the building, if that. But depending on how long Proctor lasts - the current estimate is roughly a decade - Spears hinted that students may see a new social space evolve there.

Before any decision may be made regarding Proctor's fate, however, the College must first come to a conclusion about McCullough. Those who disapprove of the building's design proposed gutting it and reconstructing it anew.

"If I could redo McCullough," said Heather Pangle '10, "I would take the whole thing and start over, except maybe The Grille."

According to Pangle, McCullough has the potential to be one of the College's greatest strengths, but instead has "turned out being a negative."

"When I visited [as a prospective student], I thought the social space was really ugly," said Pangle, "and I was disappointed because I thought other colleges' student centers were a lot nicer. And whenever I've been in the social space, it seems like an inconvenient spot."

Still, Spears remained optimistic that the renewal of McCullough may revitalize what some see as a decentralized form of student life.

"I don't think McCullough is in the center of student life right now, figuratively - and geographically, evenÖ. The opportunity to make that a topnotch showcase for artistic performances, from theater to dance - that's a huge thing right now."