College Hall to open doors early

After undergoing about a year of construction, College Hall is opening a little earlier than expected. When a tornado ripped through campus, many spaces in the Performing Arts Center and Fine Arts Building were destroyed or heavily damaged, leaving many courses without classrooms. 

To alleviate the spacing issue, the School of Mass of Communication and Journalism started moving into its new home, College Hall, this week, while some of the music and fine arts department moved into MCJ’s offices and classrooms in Southern Hall. Originally, the MCJ department was not scheduled to move until fall 2013. 

In the days following the tornado, the PAC and FAB classes were moved to what is now dubbed Twister Town, roughly 20 module units used as classrooms, professor offices and the School of Music Office located near Hillcrest Residence Hall. Along with Twister Town, many courses have moved to either Bennett Auditorium or various parts of campus such as Centennial Lawn and The Hub for music rehearsals.

Before the School of Music moved to Southern Hall, professors had to travel from the Hillcrest parking lot to Bennett Auditorium to teach classes.

Director of Bands Catherine Rand said the move to Southern Hall has been a pleasant surprise.

“I’m very happy we are in this kind of facility and set-up,” Rand said. “It doesn’t take much to please us...as long as we have a space. The university has also been very good to us by being accommodating and giving us this space.”

Rand said they even received an upgrade.

“We actually have windows,” Rand said. “Many offices in the PAC don’t have windows, so it’s nice to see the weather, students walking around campus, and we even get fresh air.”

For the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, the forced, early move isn’t entirely unwelcome. 

Mary Margaret Halford, executive editor of The Student Printz, said she and her staff will be relocating to their new offices on the third floor of College Hall in about two weeks. 

“Since I’m a senior, I didn’t think I would actually get to work in College Hall,” Halford said. “I hate the circumstances that are forcing us there, but I’m excited to get to use the new building.” 

Due to the early move, the university had to rent furniture for classrooms and some of the department’s offices. Director of MCJ Chris Campbell said that other than having to wait on furniture, the department is excited about the move.

“We’re thrilled about the building,” Campbell said. “It’s such a beautiful building, so we’re very excited for the reopening of College Hall.”

Campbell said it may take anywhere from two to six weeks for the building to be fully furnished.