The Johnsonian - Mar. 2, 2016

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Winthrop University

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Rock Hill, South Carolina

Withers roof gets much needed repair Winthrop receives $2 million grant for roof repairs Thomas Calamia calamiat@mytjnow.com As you walk up the stairs towards the fourth floor of Withers, the first thing that hits you is the scent. You are met with the smell of wet wood mixed with the smell of the old building. As you open the door to the main room, all you can see is everything covered in white tarps. In the center of the room are two tables pushed close together with a tarp in between, creating a basin to collect the rain water. When you look up and hear the drips and drops fall into the filled tarp crevasse from the most recent rainfall, you can visibly see the wet, rotting damage to the roof. Withers, one of Winthrop’s most recognizable buildings, has been struggling with damage to the roof. This damage has been present for a long time and has only gotten worse as the years have progressed. After a grant from the South Carolina general assembly, money has been secured for the roof, an engineer design has been made, and the project is moving forward to be bid out to architectural companies. “Withers is an old, old building. It’s also a conglomeration of different structures,” said Walter Hardin, the Associate Vice President for Facilities Management. “The original building was built in 1890, and it’s the place where Plowden auditorium is.” The building wasn’t originally owned by Winthrop. It was acquired by Winthrop’s founding president, D.B. Johnson in 1908. Shortly after buying the building, Johnson built a front edition and is what we know today as Withers. The building was built as a Victorian Gothic Revival design. Johnson, an avid traveler, was heavily inspired and influenced by European

architecture and had the architecture company Edwards and Sayward build the front edition in 1912. Various additions and updates were made in 1950, 1960, 1980 and in the late 1990s. “We’ve patched it a lot,” said Hardin. The roof has undergone many different fixes. From patches, to extensive work, Withers has one of the most intricate roofs on campus. “There is a Modified Bitumen Roof, a slate roof, there is another modified roof, sip last gutters and more slate,” Hardin Jacob Hallex/ The Johnsonian said. “So it has umpteenth Roof damage has caused the fourth floor of Withers’ to be closed. different roof styles. Plus it has Tarps cover parts of the floor to prevent leaking rain water from a million places that hidden causing more damage to the room. valleys, and the hidden trough gutters. It’s a complex roof. And scheduling problems, requiring classes to be those slates have been on since 1912.” moved to other places in campus. The last time The education department, Withers’ main serious work was done on the roof was in 1983. tenants, have been dealing with this problem as best as they can. The roof has caused several see REPAIR pg. 3

NOT EVEN CLOSE

INSIDE

A&C

The blunt truth about marijuana PG 8

NEWS Associated Press

Photo of Hillary Clinton speaking at an event in 2013.

Clinton wins over South Carolina in Democratic Primary Thomas Calamia calamiat@mytjnow.com The crowd cheered Saturday night at the University of South Carolina. Blue signs saying “Hillary 2016” waved as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the stage for her victory speech. Senior Adarrell Gadsden was in the crowd. Taking a jab at her competition on the right, Clinton said “We don’t need to

make America great again. America has never stopped being great.” “The rally culminated what I think was a great day for Democrats in South Carolina, as well as all Hillary Clinton supporters,” Gadsden said. “When polls closed at 7 p.m. we didn’t have to wait too long after to hear Anderson Cooper announce that Hillary Clinton had won the South Carolina Democratic Primary. The announcement was followed by a large cheer from Clinton supporters in the room.” The South Carolina Democratic Primary took place Saturday night saw Hillary Clinton win in a landslide against Bernie Sanders.

mytjnow.com Serving Winthrop since 1923 theJohnsonian

see CLINTON pg. 4

Catch up with Winthrop president and first lady

S&T

PG 3

How young is too young for social media? PG 5

Index: News 3 | Science & Tech 5 | Sports 6 | Arts & Culture 8 | Opinion 10


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