Students distracted by construction

Within the cordoned fence that rings the construction site of Simon Hall near Third Street, construction workers can be seen and heard excavating in preparation for laying the foundation for the new building. In nearby classrooms, instructors and students have expressed concern at the level of noise eminating from the site. \nYamina Mermer, an Arabic language instructor, teaches a class on the first floor of Ballantine Hall, which is adjacent to the construction site. She said noise from construction equipment can be heard in the classroom while she is teaching.\n"I have to really shout all the time because I can see the students can't hear everything, especially when you are teaching a foreign language," she said.\nJames Koryta, an IU Physical Plant electrical engineer who works at the site, said the noise is caused by heavy machinery that is used to pulsate a large drill above the rocks in order to break them into smaller pieces.\nRynn Hagen, a junior in Mermer's class, said she found the noise from the construction site distracting.\n"It keeps you from hearing the teacher but becomes part of the background noise after a while," she said.\nHagen said the noise bothered her most during her final exams at the end of the first summer session two weeks ago.\nRock drilling is the largest contributor to noise from the site. When construction on the building structure begins less noise is expected.\nThe blueprints for Simon Hall show a two-floor basement, which will require excavation of 31 feet below the ground. Engineers have to work around the topography of the construction site, which consists of mostly rock and little topsoil. Koryta said the surface topsoil varied in depth between two to six feet, followed by mostly rock.\nIn order to construct the building's basement and foundation, the rock has to be broken into smaller pieces and cleared away.\nIn 1962, the geology building was constructed and was the last science building built on campus dedicated solely to scientific research and learning. Forty-two years later, construction of Simon Hall, which will serve as a multidisciplinary science building.\nConstruction began on June 3 and is scheduled to be completed by November 2006.\nSeveral related IU graduates from the Simon family, who run Simon Property Group Inc., donated $9 million toward the building project, which is being named in their honor.\nThe proposed 140,000-square-foot building is being constructed between Myers Hall and the wooded area south of the Chemistry building.\n-- Contact nation & world editor Rami Chami at rchami@indiana.edu.