Ongoing campus construction interferes with student life
SUNY Geneseo is currently working on three multimillion-dollar campus improvement projects which are funded by the State University Construction Fund. According to the official Geneseo website, the three projects include the College Infrastructure Project, the Milne Library Renovation, and the Sturges Hall Renovation.
According to SUNY Geneseo, the College Infrastructure Project “provides a needed modernization of the infrastructure for that portion of the campus.” The college is working on new storm and sanitary sewers, and a domestic water supply. College Drive is slated to be open in the Fall of 2024, with the projected schedule to be finished in the Spring of 2025.
The Milne Library renovation includes increased seating throughout the library, group study rooms, brand-new multipurpose rooms, and a cafe. The library has collaborated with Geneseo staff as, “The Provost's Office, Facilities, and Library teams are leading the Milne project; many more are involved in this collaborative effort.” Milne Library is scheduled for reopening in the 2024-25 academic year.
On top of this, Sturges Hall is undergoing its first major renovation since the building was constructed in 1938, according to SUNY Geneseo. Sturges is currently under a complete renovation while still preserving historically significant items such as “the auditorium, grand tower stairway, windows, and clock.” Updated aspects will include “many new classrooms and collaboration spaces, a tutoring center, a testing center, and a historically restored auditorium.” Sturges Hall is scheduled to reopen during the 2026-27 school year.
Through the popular social media app YikYak, I was able to poll Geneseo students by asking them to rate how inconvenienced they are by the construction on a scale from one to ten. Twenty-five percent of voters said their inconvenience level was nine to ten. Forty-six percent of the people polled said their inconvenience level was a three to a six. In the comments section, some stated that even though they lived off-campus, they were inconvenienced getting to class due to the construction.
I had the chance to talk to some students in person about their experience with campus construction, as well. One student explained that she rates her inconvenience “eight to nine, simply because I go to class and Welles, but usually, I'm on Main Street before my class. I can't walk around Bailey. I have to walk by Bailey, then I have to walk all the way around to get to Welles. I can't just cut through Brody and go to Welles. It's bad.”
Another student explained that different times of year are worse construction-wise than others, stating “I would say day-to-day like a five to six, honestly. It's more inconvenient than anything else. I think it would get worse as the weather gets nicer and the [College] Green is ‘out,’ but by then, I [will] bump it up to like a nine.” I asked the groups; how much do you know about why there's construction? They admitted to knowing little to nothing about why their school is getting such extensive work done.
I then asked the students: do you remember getting any warning that there was going to be construction? One stated, “I did see on Instagram, that they posted the construction” — this was later clarified to be referring to a popular Instagram page, @geneseo.affirmations, that is not officially associated with the administration. They continued, “But it wasn't like an email saying ‘Oh, there'll be construction.’ It was just a story posted on Instagram.” One student's reaction to seeing Instagram posts in the summer was, “I saw the pictures and I was like, ‘Oh, I don't want to go back there.’”
Overall, students feel fairly inconvenienced and hopes for the construction to end on campus are seemingly universal. For better or worse, SUNY Geneseo has scheduled most construction to be done by 2025 with Sturges Hall scheduled to be done by 2027 at the latest.
Thumbnail Photo courtesy of Lamron Photo Editor FP Zatlukal