Aerospace engineering senior James Post showed up for his 8 a.m. class yesterday and discovered it had been relocated to another part of the UA campus.

He heard about the fire that destroyed one end of the second floor in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering building on the evening news, but was not aware the building would be closed this whole week.

"I guess it's pretty messed up," Post said.

A tour of the building at 1302 E. North Campus Dr. yesterday showed the fire had destroyed Room 204, which contained several faculty offices and a conference room, and that smoke and water had caused some cosmetic damage throughout the east end of the building, said Sgt. Brian Seastone of the University of Arizona Police Department.

The location of the fire and the way it spread gave investigators reason to believe the incident to be "suspicious." Tucson Fire Department investigators are treating it as arson.

Sharon Kha, assistant to the president, said students can access UAInfo today to find out more information about new class locations. Signs listing temporary class locations are also posted outside the building.

Registrar Arlene Becella said she didn't know the total number of students who were displaced, but did know each of the 34 classes has an enrollment of 25 to 60 students, which adds up to about 1,500 students affected.

The classes held in the three AME rooms have been moved to locations in the Modern Languages, Computer Center, Education, Economics and Harvill buildings.

Becella said she hopes to have students back to their normal schedules and in their regular classrooms inside the AME building next week.

"That will depend, of course, on the fire department and Risk Management," she said.

Deans and department heads across campus have been offering AME their spare space, making conference rooms available and opening unused offices for displaced faculty members, Kha said.

Joseph Humphrey, AME's department head, said the department has pulled together as a faculty and will try to recover as best it can. "What happens now is to continue doing our job," he said.