A frustrated professor and two undergraduate students took on Rouss Hall yesterday to try to fix up the aging economics building.
Economics Professor Edgar Olsen fourth-year John Welch and third-year Vick Iskounen, both economics majors, painted bookcases and threw out broken, unwanted furniture in the economics building.
The Economics Department paid Welch and Iskounen $12 per hour each for four hours of work, after recruiting them through an e-mail sent to all economics majors.
Olsen said no one in the University is regularly assigned to perform these kinds of odd jobs: "If a faculty member doesn't do it, it's really not going to get done."
Though the University's Facilities Management department could have handled these tasks, Olsen said that organizing the work himself was more efficient.
"You can get it done faster and less expensively if you just use students," he said. Similar cleanups are expected to happen again in Rouss Hall over the course of the year.
Yesterday's efforts did nothing to change the widespread agreement that Rouss Hall is in need of large-scale renovations.
Despite ceiling and floor tile replacements to improve the appearance of the building, administrators have said that the building is need of new pipes, structural repairs, an improved heating system, better designed classrooms, and an elevator to increase accessibility for the handicapped.
"It's an embarrassment to the University to have a building like that right on the Lawn," Olsen said. "It looks incredibly better than it did five years ago, but functionally it's terrible."
Until renovations are made, Olsen said the condition of the building may be harming the department's faculty retention and student recruitment efforts.
As Welch said regarding concerns that Rouss poses problems for students majoring in economics: "The classrooms are too small, especially for classes that are required for the major."
Olsen said that three or four years ago an architectural study generated a plan for a new $7 million economics building, as well as $6 million in renovations for Rouss. After the study the Economics Department requested the right to seek private funding for the new building and the renovations to Rouss. According to Olsen, Melvin Lefler, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the time, denied the request.
Edward Ayers, current College dean, said that Rouss is in serious need of modernization, but added that the timetable for renovation is "going to depend on what the state does this fall" concerning higher education funding.
Read More
From the Archives: Celebration and Reflection (4/28 - 5/4)
By Clara Franklin and Annabelle Nee | 1 hours agoFrom The Purple Shadows breaking into the Dean of Students’s office to multiple student athletes accused of honor code violations, the graduating class’s four years were a wild ride.
PBS NewsHour correspondent speaks on bringing humanity to international conflict
By Grace Little | YesterdaySchifrin's work exploring Putin’s Russia, his coverage of COVID-19 and his reporting in Afghanistan and Ukraine have earned him various accolades.
Spring meal swipe drive aims to tackle food insecurity at the University
By Nicolas Biernacki | YesterdayU.Va. Dine facilitated the drive by converting each meal swipe donated by a student into one pound of food that is then donated to the CFP.
