The Philomathean Society will use a $4,500 Student Activities Council grant to pay a private architect to recommend restorations for the group's College Hall space, Philo Moderator Caery Evangelist said yesterday. Evangelist said the money will pay for the Philadelphia architect to determine how best to retain the historical environment of the rooms on the fourth floor of College Hall. The University will begin renovating College Hall within the next few months. Evangelist, a College senior, said Philo hopes to "restore [the halls] to the historical [and] traditional way the halls were built." But a University official said last night that the University is funding construction to College Hall as a "renovation," not "restoration," and he has no knowledge that Philo had received a SAC grant. "I thought that [the architect's fee] was a line-item [in Philo's] budget," said Bill Wilkinson, project and contract maintenance manager for the facilities management division of Physical Plant. Wilkinson also said he has met with Philo leaders during the past two weeks. Evangelist said the society hired the architect because the society's members are worried that, when the University renovates College Hall, economic constraints and other priorities will prevent them from considering the building's traditional interior on the top floor. Philo requested a SAC grant, she said, to pay the costs of the architect who will "research the ways the halls used to look," especially the lighting fixtures, bookshelves and ceilings. The architect will research the history of the University's Law School building also, because much of the current Philo interior decoration came from there, Evangelist added. Evangelist said the architect has not told the society how much he will charge, but said it will be, at the "very least, the grant price." She said that once the recommendations are made, Philo will present them to the University to see if the administration can work the suggestions into its renovation budget. Evangelist said that any restorations which the University will not fund will be paid for by the society. Wilkinson said that the University already paid a group to study the historical significance of College Hall, but that the Philo halls were not included in the recommendation. "Philo is not considered, generally speaking, a public place, but in a sense they are [because they hold public forums,]" he said yesterday. Wilkinson said that, in College Hall, the Philo halls are officially a "user space," as opposed to a "general space." User space includes offices, while general space includes hallways and stairways, Wilkinson said. Evangelist, however, said that Philo qualified for the SAC money because the halls are available to the entire University community. "SAC should provide money for projects of benefit to the whole community," she said. Even though Philomathean Society membership is limited to 50 students, anyone can attend Philo-sponsored events. Wilkinson said there is a difference between the construction which will renovate College Hall, which also houses the offices of President Sheldon Hackney and Provost Michael Aiken, and that which restored the historical preservation of Furness Fine Arts Library. But, Wilkinson added, "we are not doing this work without consideration to the character of the building." SAC Finance members could not be reached for comment last night.
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