About $13 million in renovations to Ellis Hall will begin in October, meaning departments such as English, philosophy, and classics and world religions will have to temporarily find a new home.
Because of the renovations, all faculty in Ellis Hall will move their offices to Lindley Hall, while students will attend class in Tupper Hall.
Ellis Hall has suffered from several issues since the last time it was renovated in 1999, from bumps and tears in the carpet to broken heating and air conditioning.
William Owens, chair of the classics and world religions department and an associate professor, is bothered by the “general shabbiness of the place.”
“If you look at the exterior paint on the building, it’s peeling off,” Owens said. “It’s just incredible. It looks like s---. It’s really shameful that it was allowed to deteriorate like that so much.”
Owens said he has applied some of his own fixes to his office and suite in Ellis Hall.
“On my list of things to do, the second item says 'duct tape,' which means I need to bring in duct tape and tape all of this s--- and then parts in the hall since people (fall) on this,” Owens said.
Some of the primary concerns of Ellis have been addressed since 1999, with classroom renovation projects from 2002-2004, a new roof in 2006 and two different renovations to the chiller in 2014 and 2015, Ohio University Spokeswoman Carly Leatherwood said.
The latest Ellis Hall renovations will begin in October 2017 and are expected to end about a year later, Leatherwood said.
The renovations include upgrading the overall infrastructure of the building to health and efficiency standards, reconfiguring the third-floor space, doing maintenance to the portico on the east side and improving the overall accessibility of the building, with the inclusion of a new elevator and single-user restrooms.
The renovations will cost $13 million, as approved by the Board of Trustees during its June 2016 meeting.
John Bender, chair of the philosophy department and a professor, has been attending meetings with building designers and feels they know what they are doing with the renovations.
“The designers seemed to be doing a very good job,” Bender said. “They are always on the ball, know what they are doing, they have the thing planned out and organized in a logical way.”
Owens said the budget constrains how much Ellis Hall can be renovated, though the process of approving the design of the building is coming together.
“I’m seeing the process. It’s an interesting one where a lot of individuals are coming together, representing not just the people in Ellis Hall but also institutional equity with concerns for the American with Disabilities Act and the need to make the building accessible,” Owens said.
Sherrie Gradin, the chair of the English department and a professor, holds the usual worries about moving into a new space, she said.
“They are the kind of concerns that are any time you’re moving: disruption, feeling out of your home space, having to reorient, and you’re sort of feeling like you're squatting in a place,” Gradin said.
Some students are concerned about the renovation of the Ellis Hall bathroom stalls, which have writing on different topics on them. Irene Hancock, a junior studying integrated language arts, proposed the solution of making a photo collection of what is written and hanging it up.
“You always have to get rid of something for, like, people to make new history,” Nevin Malott, a freshman studying music production and the recording industry, said. “You always have those in your memory, and you’ll always have time to make new memories in the hall and have new things written on the stalls.”
For Owens, the renovations will help students know what they are doing is valued.
“You don’t need something that is fancy or posh,” Owens said. “But you just need something that suggests an idea to the students that what they’re doing here is valued and that they are worth a room that has adequate and comfortable furniture, that addresses their needs and is not falling apart.”
