When University senior Ben Houser was a teaching assistant in general chemistry, he spent a lot of time in the lab in the basement of Klamath Hall, a room many people refer to as a “dungeon.”
If the state House of Representatives passes an Oregon stimulus package this week, the general chemistry lab will be one facility on campus that will receive money for renovations.
The plan allocates a total of $2.9 million to the University. Among the 11 listed projects are renovations to science labs in Klamath and Pacific Hall and classroom renovations in Chapman Hall.
For Houser, the lab wasn’t horrible to work in. “I thought it served its purpose pretty well,” he said.
However, the room didn’t have enough chemical hoods for all 60 students who use it at once, which limited the amount of volatile chemicals they could use, he said. The worst thing, Houser said, was the organization of the lab as a classroom.
Students had to peek around counters and lab hoods to see instructors at the front of the class, he said, making it difficult to address large groups.
Mike Haley, head of the chemistry department, said the lab needs renovation regardless of whether the stimulus package passes because it is inadequate for students. “While the labs that students do are up-to-date,” he said, “the facilities are clearly out-of-date.”
The lab dates back to the 1960s, Haley said, and the drawers and cabinets were built in 1948, when they were still in Pacific.
In Klamath’s neighbor hall, Pacific, labs may get money for renovations. Bill Cresko, an assistant professor of biology who teaches in Pacific, said the labs seriously need the money.
Many of them need new wiring, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, he said. On a more general scale, the labs simply were not created with current scientific needs in mind.
“Many of the things we do now couldn’t have been anticipated by the builders (of Pacific),” Cresko said.
Cresko’s own lab is the 900-square-foot product of a renovation. It used to be a storage space but now is a research and teaching space for about 15 people.
Science isn’t the only field whose facilities might get a remodel. For Chapman Hall, the stimulus plan could deliver classroom renovations.
Louise Bishop, literature professor in the Robert D. Clark Honors College on the third floor of Chapman, hopes Chapman 303 will be helped out.
The room is used for honors college colloquia and thesis prospectus classes. It has a large table in the middle, surrounded by chairs. Usually at least two students must sit along the wall instead of at the table.
Bishop said the room has very bad windows and desperately needs air conditioning, and while the goal of the classes is discussion, it’s almost impossible to achieve with the current arrangement.
In addition, Bishop said, “The way the media stuff is set up in that room is just abysmal.”
According to the Legislative Fiscal Office of Oregon, the Senate passed the package Jan. 28 and the House is expected to decide by Feb. 10.
Other projects the package could fund are new fire alarms and sprinklers in Pacific, historic preservation of the Friendly Hall exterior, changes to the Friendly electrical set-up, heat system replacement in Deady Hall, piping replacements in Esslinger Hall and carpet, paint and ceiling renovations around campus.
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