Firestone renovations irk thesis-writing seniors

The demolition work, which takes place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, began on an eastern section of the B level on Jan. 24 and is scheduled to last through Feb. 23, according to a statement on the University library system’s website. The renovations will continue until June, University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said.

Wayne Aparin, a special collections assistant at Firestone, said that the goal of the renovations is to improve the staff lounge, which also serves as a lunch room. The loading dock, B-floor bathrooms and rear exit of the library are also being renovated, Cliatt added.

“They’re renovating the entire staff lounge,” Aparin said, noting that the plans call for “expanding the lounge as well as modernizing it.”

The decision to renovate the lounge came in response to results from a survey of Firestone staff, Aparin said.

“The surveys showed that it needed to be updated and improved,” he explained.

Some seniors with carrels close to the areas being renovated, though, have expressed frustration that the noise from the construction is preventing them from concentrating on their work.

The noise was so unbearable on Feb. 14 for David Thorpe ’09 that he “actually walked out of the Scribner Room, really angrily.”

“I said, ‘This is ridiculous,’ and I stormed out,” he said. “There was someone there, and they stared at me.”

Thorpe said that he normally tries to work on his thesis during the day, which is when the construction in Firestone takes place.

“Normally, when I try to get [to Firestone] early and start working, that’s when it’s bad,” Thorpe explained, adding that he “stayed here during Intersession to try to get thesis work done, and it was pretty frustrating.”

Not all students are as troubled by the construction as Thorpe. Grace Clawater ’09, who occupies a carrel across from Thorpe’s, said that the noise “hasn’t really bugged [her] at all.”

“I can’t remember when I’ve noticed it. I’ve really only thought, ‘Oh, that’s the construction noise,’ once or twice,” Clawater said.

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Before the demolition work began, the University contacted all seniors in carrels near the pending construction and offered them new carrels, Cliatt said, though she noted that she did not know exactly how many students were relocated.

“[The University] asked the contractor to try and limit the noise to during the morning hours, when it would mostly affect staff,” Cliatt said. “After the demolition phase ends [next week], the contractors have been told to limit the noise from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., and anything excessively noisy will be scheduled for Saturday mornings to minimize the impact on students.”

Still, some students questioned the wisdom of starting the renovations during the spring semester, when many seniors spend a significant amount of time in Firestone working on independent work.

Sarah Harrison ’09 said she wished that the construction could be postponed until after the April due date for her thesis, adding that she was still grateful that the noise ends at 4 p.m.

Andrew Malcolm ’09 said that he sent “a few e-mails to library administrators” regarding the construction.

Malcolm requested that the construction not take place over reading period, and he “alert[ed] the administrators to what a busy time that is for students,” he said.

“Those [administrators] I have spoken to have been very responsive and helpful,” Malcolm added.

The construction began after the end of fall term exams.

“The work was scheduled to begin in January, but upon learning it was noisier than we expected, we actually did delay the process,” Cliatt said in an e-mail. “[W]e put a two-week stop on the project until after dean’s date.”

Initially, the demolition was scheduled for last summer, Cliatt said, but contractors’ schedules and logistical concerns forced the University to postpone the project.

Despite the noise that the renovations cause, Firestone employees said that these changes are necessary.

David Long, the economics and finance collection manager at Firestone, said that the old faculty lounge “was just a very standard plain lunch room. Except for a few appliances, it had not changed since the building was built.”

Long added that the room “was not serving the functions that the staff began to use it for,” including yoga classes and other activities.

The renovations are necessary now, Long explained, since planned renovations in Firestone in coming years will cause difficulties for Firestone staff.

“If and when Firestone finally gets renovated, the building is going to be a mess for many years, so to get this done is something for the staff. At least they’ll have a renovated lunch room to go to,” he said.

Some students affected by the construction tried to put the inconvenience in perspective.

“[The construction] has made it a little hard to concentrate sometimes,” Emily Hankin ’09 explained. “But I don’t really want to sit here and work in the first place, so it’s just one of the things that distracts me.”