New student fee improving facilities at Purdue

"The repairs are already making Purdue a safer, more comfortable and more efficient university," said Wayne Kjonaas, vice president for physical facilities. "Our students are playing a critical role in making sure our campus facilities meet their needs as well as the needs of future students. Keeping our facilities in top condition enhances and protects the investments we continue to make in infrastructure."

Some projects, such as renovation of the 500-seat lecture hall in Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry, are designed specifically to benefit students, said university architect Larry Fusaro. New, up-to-date technologies in the lecture hall will make it easier to hear instructors, view projections, and read texts and displays. Repair and rehabilitation funding will pay for the installation of the following improvements in the lecture hall next summer:

• New lights and control system that allow 12 different levels of lighting;

• A new audio system with more and higher quality speakers;

• New projectors controlled by a system that allows media from computers, cameras, video players and other devices to be easily displayed;

• Touch screen controls for audio, video and lighting systems;

• Renovation of seating and aisles to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The student fee should generate $7.25 million over the next six years, said Morgan R. Olsen, Purdue executive vice president and treasurer. University-funded financial aid was increased to help offset the new cost to students, he said.

Half of the fee revenue goes directly into the repair and rehabilitation fund to be used immediately to begin work on deferred projects. Purdue annually will combine that money with $7.5 million from other university funds. Then, the state matches Purdue's contribution for an annual total repair and rehabilitation fund of $15 million.

This income helps make it possible to fix essential building components such as roofs; foundations; walls; floors; and electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Sidewalks, sewers and building-heating steam distribution systems also are being repaired.

Several projects are scheduled for the first phase of repair and rehabilitation:

• Classroom renovations in the Lilly Hall of Life Sciences and the Physics and Krannert buildings;

• Laboratory renovations in the Biochemistry Building and Wetherill;

• Roof repairs at Stewart Center, the Combustion Research Lab and Physics Building;

• Window replacements in Grissom Hall;

• Sprinkler system installations at the Mathematical Sciences Building and Young Hall;

• Elevator installations; heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacements; and infrastructure improvements throughout campus.

Purdue's board of trustees approved the student fee as part of a multifaceted effort to tackle the university's mounting deferred maintenance costs. Purdue traditionally had relied upon state funding to meet these needs. However, state funding was less than expected, causing a postponement of many needed improvements. The backlog now totals $416 million. More than two-thirds of that amount involves rehabilitation projects, such as the Wetherill lecture hall, that are often more extensive than repairs alone.

The second half of the student fee is dedicated to paying the debt service on a $60 million bond issue. Income from bonds, then, funds today's projects. Olsen said this makes student help crucial to the overall repair and rehabilitation funding plan.

"This repair and rehabilitation funding plan will help ensure that infrastructure that has long served as the backbone of the university will meet the needs of generations of students well into this century," Olsen said.

More information on the repair and rehabilitation project is available online.

Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

Sources: Wayne Kjonaas, (765) 494-8000, wwkjonaas@purdue.edu

Morgan R. Olsen. (765) 494-9705, mrolsen@purdue.edu

Stephanie Boland, physical facilities communications coordinator, (765) 494-6916, seboland@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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