State approves $89M for dorm, facility upgrades

Next August when students return to Bloomington, residents of Forest Quad will have the luxury of air-conditioning, students in parts of McNutt and Teter Quad will have private bathrooms, and the rest of the IU community will see renovations in athletic facilities, the School of Informatics and other campus property.\nThe State Budget Committee met with IU administrators Wednesday and reviewed projects the board of trustees requested to begin, said J.T. Forbes, IU director of state relations.\nIndiana State Senator Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, welcomed the State Budget Committee's approval of nearly $89 million in funding for these and several other projects on campus. Some funding will also go to projects at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.\n"As a whole, it just so happened there are a lot of important projects at IU-Bloomington that happened to appear at the same time," Simpson said.\nThe newly approved additional space for the Multi-Disciplinary Science Building Phase II Project, as well as the approval of a 20-year lease of the fraternity-style chapter house on East 10th Street, are improvements Simpson said are important to the future of IU. The IU Foundation will renovate the house on East 10th Street to accommodate faculty and support offices for the School of Informatics, \nThe additional space in the science building will accommodate several programs and laboratories that will help expand the University's research capacity. Those areas include neuroscience and brain imaging, atmospheric science, contaminant chemistry and biogeochemistry, according to a news release from Simspon's office.\n"IU at Bloomington is a major research university," Simpson said, "and I believe making more space in the science building and School of Informatics is important because of the economic development potential that exists from research in life sciences and research in technology areas."\nThe project had to gain state approval because it is so costly, IU's Director of State Relations Forbes said.\nHowever, state funding is being provided to help with other projects, including the upgrades being made to the dorms. Simpson said she believes the improvements are needed.\nThe changes for next year include the addition of an air-conditioning system in Forest, which will also benefit the campus by helping with the chilled water system, said Pat Connor, executive director of Residential Programs and Services.\nThe bathrooms in the Teter-Elkin and McNutt-Bocobo dorms will be upgraded as well.\n"They are going to gut the old facilities and create individual bathrooms, so when students go down the hall to go to the bathroom or take a shower, they will go into a room with a toilet, sink and shower and be able to lock the door," Connor said.\nConnor said each floor will have several of these individualized bathrooms instead of a single communal one.\nLack of privacy is one reason why a student chooses to leave the dorms after his or her first year, Connor said, so RPS is working to increase students' privacy.\nWork for these projects will begin in the spring, and the affected dorms will be closed for the summer. The renovations should be complete when they reopen in August, Connor said.\nOther projects that were approved include the construction of the new Campus Office and Classroom Building. The facility, which will be located on East Third Street, will house specialized classrooms and teaching labs for the departments of biology and communication and culture, along with departmental and faculty offices, according to the news release. The building will also include a new anatomy lab.\nForbes said IU was fortunate to have all of the proposed projects on the agenda for the State Budget Committee this week. He said this was likely the last time the committee would meet until after the current legislative session.\n"It would have been next May or June before we could have gotten approval after this," Forbes said. "It would have caused significant delays."\nSimpson noted there is some controversy over the approval of the athletic-facilities project, which is estimated to cost $55 million. Specifically, the improvements include the Hoosier Education and Performance Center at the north end of Memorial Stadium, the renovation of space under the east stands of Memorial Stadium for the Academic Center for Excellence, the creation of the new Basketball Development Center next to Assembly Hall and the construction of the new Hoosier Baseball/Softball Complex. \nHowever, Simpson argued there is no good reason for the controversy because the state is not funding the athletic project. \n"No state funded money is being used for the athletic facility projects; however, it did require authorization in order to move forward," Simpson said. "I believe $45 million in athletic money and $10 million in gift money are being used to cover the cost"