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Campus School is first priority in facilities planning

Two years ago, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was authorized to renovate its Campus School.  Officials decided against the renovation after concluding that the money wouldn’t have been well spent.

 “It’s prime real estate and we can’t afford to use it any way other than optimally,” said Andrew Soll, UW-Eau Claire vice chancellor of business and student services.

 The building has not had major improvements since it was built in 1952.  According to the physical facilities development plan, the electrical systems are inadequate, there is no air conditioning and the classrooms are woefully ill-configured and ill-equipped.

 “It’s very inadequate in almost every respect,” he said.

 The Campus School renovation project was one of 19 facilities planning issues laid out by Soll as part of his “Campus Master Plan and the Planning Process” presentation to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Thursday.

 “We are in the midst of a very major planning effort that’s been going on for a year now.  We’ve involved students, faculty and staff from the beginning.  Their input has been very important,” he said. 

“At this point, we really don’t know what the projects are going to be,” Soll said.

 According to Soll, the first priority of the facilities planning commission will be a proposal to raze Campus School and build a larger, more appropriate building on that site.  The newly created space could then serve as a temporary location for students and administrators during renovations of other buildings like Schneider Hall.  It could also serve as a possible location for the university extension for continuing education.

“We consolidated our continuing education operations about a year ago, but we didn't have space on campus to house our five different extensions.  We now have them located at a building off campus on Water Street.  That's in a good location, but it's not a great building and it's not a long-term solution," Soll said.

Any long-term solution should keep in mind the extension's presence in the community, said Chris Mead, assistant business counselor for the university extension and a senior at UW-Eau Claire.  

"As long as they keep everyone together, the program will continue to help the community.  I just don't think it would be as efficient to have us spread out in separate offices," Mead said.

Spreading out has been a typical solution for students to combat a lack of space on campus.

 “In general, our classroom buildings do not have lounge space and study space where students outside of class can interact with each other and with faculty,” Soll said.

In Schneider Hall, an out-dated air handling system makes classrooms warm and stuffy, and causes students to become drowsy and inattentive in class.  In some classrooms, noisy air ducts make any educational use difficult.  Additionally, most of the 37 classrooms are too small, according to the physical facilities development plan.

  “When I first started in our education administration, we typically looked at 15 to16 square feet per student in a classroom.  Now days, the planning standard is about 25 square feet per student—almost 60 percent larger,” Soll said.

According to Soll, the planning standard has increased from 15 square feet per student to about 25 square feet during his tenure in the education administration.  The 60 percent increase is mostly due to increased technology, he said.

 “Most of our facilities were designed long before people thought about the kind of technology we use today," he said.  "An overhead projector was high-tech when these buildings were built.  Now days we have an overhead projector stationed in every classroom.  It’s taken for granted like a chalkboard.”