Houston Hall retail, student groups prepare for building closing

The University assigned temporary office space for affected groups. Students expressed both excitement and apprehension about the University's announcement yesterday detailing the temporary homes for groups that will be evicted from Houston Hall at the end of the semester. The building is scheduled to close May 28 for renovations related to the construction of the $69 million Perelman Quadrangle, which is designed to create a student center linking Irvine Auditorium with Houston, College, Logan and Williams halls. The 18-month-long renovations will force the student organizations and staff offices in Houston Hall to relocate to designated areas around campus. The Office of Student Life Activities and Facilities and the Financial Services Center will temporarily move to the former University Police annex on the 3900 block of Irving Street and return to Houston Hall when renovations are completed. They will be joined in the building by the offices belonging to student government groups. Meanwhile, the Community Service Center, a non-residential program hub proposed by students last November, and the Office of Health Education will move to the building formerly occupied by the Division of Public Safety at 3914 Locust Walk. Although the center is expected to remain in the building, the program's future expansion will force the health office to move. "I am pleased with the announcement," Director of Student Life Activities and Facilities Fran Walker said. "The location is crucial for the types of programming our office undertakes and its association to the Community Service Center." Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum also said she was "delighted" that PSCI and the Office of Health Education "are able to share a space which students themselves developed." She said the growing size of student service organizations forced a situation in which the Community Service Center could house only some of them permanently. "I think the groups are going to burst out of the building," she said. Although McCoullum stressed that students played an active role in allocating space, many did not share her enthusiasm. "I think the Community Service Center is an excellent location. It might even be better than Houston Hall," said first-year Education graduate student Logan Levkoff, a member of the Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health steering committee. "But it makes me angry that FLASH doesn't have a permanent space. We are a health-related organization, and we can't be moving around every year," she added.

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