The
Collegian Sports The football team’s new associate head coach, Pete Alamar, Page 8
Fresno State | Serving the campus since 1922
Multimedia A comprehensive look at the efforts to prepare a musical, Online May 7, 2010 | Friday
collegian.csufresno.edu
Campus blueprint on life support By Joe Bailey The Collegian In November of 2007, Fresno State’s Campus Master Plan was created in order to revitalize the university’s outdated facilities and revive the its struggling infrastructure. Schematics and blueprints generated a 30-year plan for demolishing some old and obsolete buildings in order to construct newer buildings among other projects. Cynthia Teniente-Matson, vice president for administration services, said Fresno State has amassed $105 million in deferred maintenance to this date. A campus boulevard was drawn up as a gateway to the new and improved Fresno State, a university geared to “guide our pursuit of excellence in learning and discovery,” according to President John Welty’s statement on the Master Plan’s website. Teniente-Matson said she sees the master plan as a roadmap to making Fresno State one of California’s universities with premier facilities. “It connects our physical campus presence to our strategic plan and academic initiatives,” Teniente-Matson said.
Collegian Staff
“This type of planning tool facilitates robust decisionmaking regarding facility priorities.” A lot has changed since 2007 and financial shortcomings have tur ned this concrete roadmap into an uncertain wish list. Teniente-Matson, who manages funding for the construction budget, has seen those plans drift from reality. “Ideally, the campus would have the funds to demolish facilities that are beyond their useful life or no longer suitable for contemporary use See MASTER, Page 6
Sidebar story:
McKee Fisk fiasco By Lacee Solis The Collegian
Nimat Davis, administrative coordinator for the women’s studies and political science department at Fresno State makes her way to her office up to the second floor of the McKee See McKEE, Page 7
Matt Weir / The Collegian
Last month, after several days of rain, the ceiling of the McKee Fisk building began to leak. Facilities Management staff has since stopped the leak and cleaned the ceiling of the mold that had collected.
Ag building gets needed upgrade
Matt Weir / The Collegian
The new air conditioning unit, pictured, is only part of the construction underway in the Agricultural Science building. Asbestos abatement is planned.
By Chelsea Cushing The Collegian Upgrades to the Agricultural Science building’s air conditioning, heating and ventilation systems started earlier this month and will displace some offices and classrooms until fall 2010. The west wing of the building is affected by the construction as the dean’s office, plant science of fice and lecture
halls 224 and 236 are temporarily moved to an alternate location. Wendy Moritz, from facilities planning, said the dean’s office and plant science department office have moved to the downstairs section of the University Center. The construction affects 33 offices, two computer labs and 12 classrooms, Moritz said. The moving of the offices and classrooms will be done in
Peters Building cleared
two phases. The first was conducted earlier this month and the next is scheduled at the end of the semester, Moritz said. The job of upgrades and asbestos abatement will be conducted by a private construction company. “[I’m] hoping it won’t interfere with fall classes,” Moritz said. “We are being asked to move right after finals,” Art Parham, faculty chair of the Animal Sciences and Agricultural Education Department, said. The building was constructed in 1953 and was one of four original buildings on campus, along with McLane Hall, Thomas Administration and the Agricultural Mechanics building. “The problem with the system was it is an old, antiquated three-pipe system,” Parham said. A three-pipe system only allows heating or cooling at one time in a building and the design obsolete. “There are rooms where you freeze all winter and burn up all summer,” Parham said. Funding for the construction will come from the minor
capital repair budget, Parham said. Some of the air conditioning and heating units have been repaired and replaced over the years, and around 1968 the system was retrofitted for an effective cooling system. The north, south and east wings are still active until summer, Charles Boyer, dean of the Jordan Colle g e of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, said. Along with the upgrades on the air conditioning, heating and ventilation, asbestos removal is planned for the building, Boyer said. The asbestos abatement will be conducted on the ceiling tile, floor tile and insulation around the pipes. The University has known for a number of years the air conditioning and heating was in need of replacements, Boyer said. “The main reason for delay was the lack of funds in the maintenance budget,” Boyer said. Last year, the dean’s office was flooded because pipes that connected to the three-pipe system in the building broke, Boyer said.
Occupants of a building on the northeast side of campus Thursday morning were evacuated after a report of the smell of smoke. The first floor of the Peter’s Education Building had to be cleared at approximately 8:30 a.m. due to the smell of smoke filling the lower levels of the building. Bob Boyd, the associate vice president for facilities management, said a belt attached to an air conditioning unit in the basement floor of the building began to spin and produce friction. The resulting smell was similar to smoke, officials said. The smell travelled through the air vents located inside Peters Business the building. Building “It was not a real big problem, but more of an interruption,” Boyd said. Amy Armstrong, the public information officer for the University Police Department, said there were classes and offices opened at that time. She said no open flame or fire was found. As a precaution, the Fresno Fire Department responded to the notice within minutes and evacuated the building. As fire officials ventilated the building, occupants who were kept away from the building were able to return an hour and a half later. All buildings were reopened and classes resumed instruction that day, Boyd said.
No-smoking discussion continued By Mike Boylan The Collegian A t We d n e s d a y ’ s f i n a l Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) senate meeting of the semester, a branch of the American Lung Association, which visited two weeks ago, once again pushed for a smoke-free campus to similar results. A motion to give Project Individuals, Mentors and Peers Advocating to Control Tobacco (IMPACT), a no-smoking advocacy group whose aim is to raise awareness about the See ASI, Page 6