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By Brian Gregory
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 26, 1996
Recent construction projects in the Economics and Speech buildings appear to be causing disruptions to classes held there.The sounds of hammers and saws have been heard in the buildings since the beginning of the semester, and in some cases, the noise has drowned out professors' lectures.
Jeanne Clarke, associate professor of political science who teaches in the Economics building, said, "Last week I had to stop a class and one of the students ran up to the construction workers and asked them to be quiet."
Clarke said the noise has subsided, however.
"A week ago it was almost impossible to teach, but lately we hardly hear them at all," she said.
Denzel Hawkins, a Facilities Management shop superintendent, said a small remodeling and maintenance project is being completed on the second floor of the Economics building.
"The reason for the disruptions during classes last week in the Economics building was due to the fact that there was a hurry-up job that needed to be done for one of the departments," Hawkins said. "There was a deadline and it had to be met."
In the Speech building, the first floor is being renovated to accommodate the offices of the Women's Studies Department, which is moving into the building, said Melissa Dryden, public information coordinator for Facilities Design and Construction.
That project should be finished by January, but is ahead of schedule now, Dryden said.
On the third floor of the building, the Department of Linguistic and Cognitive Sciences is moving in and room is being made for the department's offices. This project is close to completion, Dryden said.
"The Speech department moved to the (Business and Public Administration) building, so many new departments are moving in and the space has to be adapted to the needs of the new departments," she said.
Teachers and students are wondering why these projects could not have been done during the summer.
"It can be very distracting because we are trying to listen to the professor and the noise disrupts my attention," said Stacey Bailey, a media arts sophomore.
Dryden said the projects cannot always be done during the summer because when departments move into new buildings, there is not always enough time to get all of the projects done.
Hawkins said the projects are done when the departments give Facilities Management the funding.
"When the department gives us the money to fund the project - that is when we have to do the project," Hawkins said.
Dryden said it is trying to keep disruptions to classes in the Speech building at a minimum.
"We are trying to minimize the noise during classes by doing work at night and during the weekends when no classes are being held," he said. "We are holding meetings with the professors that teach in the building in order to find out if there are any problems and try to find out ways to solve the problems."
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