Yellow construction tape that blocks off the Taylor Lounge will soon decorate more of the EMU as renovations to the building continue throughout Spring term.
The EMU will relocate many groups this year while the spaces they occupy are remodeled and redesigned. The International Resource Center, which serves as lounge and information center for students, will get a complete overhaul, and its offices will be temporarily housed in the Taylor Lounge, currently undergoing a conversion. The actual renovation to the IRC will begin in January, but the IRC will move prior to winter break. The IRC is expected to occupy the space until May or June when the project is expected to be completed, said Dusty Miller, director of the EMU.
“This is a chance to have them move all of their stuff so when winter terms starts, their temporary location is already set up,” said Miller.
Last year’s EMU Board approved several moves within the building to facilitate remodeling that will provide more student office space, Miller said.
Offices for EMU Marketing, the EMU Grant Writer and the Craft Center will move to the Skylight area to allow the KWVA General Manager to move into one of the Marketing offices. Computer Networking will also occupy the former Marketing office space. These moves will facilitate the expansion of Computer Networking Services’ office space and to allow upgrades to the Craft Center facility.
Other scheduled moves include shifting the Leadership Resource Office to the arcade, with construction to begin Saturday, said Dana Winitzky, EMU facilities manager. Once the LRO has moved, the Cultural Forum will move into the LRO’s old space. The Cultural Forum space will then be developed into student group offices.
EMU Facilities is working to reduce the effect of the construction on students using the EMU, said Winitzky, but, “there might be some minor inconveniences.”
Miller also feels the impact on students will be minimal.
“You’re going to have some construction noise. You’ll have contractors in the building, which usually takes up some space, and I’ve never seen a construction project that didn’t create some dirt,” he said.
Miller said the IRC project is a large project that will include some demolition, and therefore will probably be noisy.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Miller said.
Winitzky said he didn’t think renovations to the arcade would be too disturbing for students because there will be a wall constructed to separate the Break from the arcade. He said the Skylight renovation, which should begin around the same time, also should not have a great impact.
“We might have some blackout times when there’s an event and we can’t make a lot of noise,” Winitzky said. “We’ll be looking out for that.”
The furniture currently in the Taylor Lounge will be dispersed to the east side of the building and to storage, Miller said.
Sonja Rasmussen, coordinator for the IRC, said she and her staff are looking forward to the move because being near the Fishbowl will offer them a more visible location than it currently has.
“It’s a great opportunity to get the word out about our services,” she said.
Rasmussen said she and the IRC staff spoke with facilities about the construction of walls in the Taylor Lounge.
“We want the walls to be as see-through as possible,” she said. EMU Facilities agreed to make some walls out of Plexiglas, Rasmussen said.
“Literally, we get to increase our visibility,” she said.
The IRC will continue to offer the services it currently provides; such as a resource for international newspapers, an international library and a forum for showing international movies.
“We probably won’t be able to be a scheduling space, not like we have been because we’ll be in a smaller space down there,” Rasmussen said. She doesn’t know if there will additional impact to students who use the IRC.
“We’ll find out. We’ll be in a much smaller space. It’ll be cozy,” she said.
The IRC will occupy part of Taylor Lounge while other international student groups will occupy the rest of the space.
The projects are funded from different sources, Miller said.
The IRC project will cost $1.3 million and is funded through bonds supported by the student building fee fund. All seven Oregon University System schools tax students, $45 per term on a quarter system or $67.50 on a semester system, said Miller, in order to allow the state to sell bonds to raise money for these projects, which are student approved.
A committee of the ASUO called the Student Building Fee Committee voted on the project twice, Miller said. During the 2005-06 school year, the committee approved $300,000 for the project. The year prior the committee voted to fund it $500,000. The rest of the funding came from fundraising and a small amount from the EMU building reserve, Miller said.
The other project will cost $200,000 and is funded through the EMU building reserve. This money traditionally comes from student fees that have been built up over several years, Miller said.
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