President, provost shuffle offices

University administrators are playing their own version of musical chairs, as members of both the provost's office and the president's office will be the next College Hall residents to be relocated. These moves mark the beginning of the second phase of the predicted 10-year, $22-million renovation of College Hall. Physical Plant Project Manager Bill Wilkinson said that within the next six weeks, the center portion of College Hall's north side will be cleared of offices. Contractors begin work this week on that side of the building, which faces College Green. President Sheldon Hackney and his immediate staff are scheduled to move from their north side offices of College Hall to the southeast end -- room 121 -- on February 12. Linda Hyatt, acting executive director of the president's office, said she is sorry to leave her office and view of Locust Walk from her windows. "I've loved being here," Hyatt said of her office with its original wood-panelled walls. "It has such charm." Provost Michael Aiken and his staff will move from their north side offices to the southwest end of the building -- room 110 -- on March 5. Beginning today, some members of the administrators' extended staffs will move to the fifth floor of 133 South 36th Street, the building which houses Mellon Bank, Wilkinson said. The rest of the offices' staffs will move within the next five weeks, and the new offices will house the administrative staffs for the next two years, he said. The renovation to College Hall involves repairing "the inside side of the exterior walls" of the building. Wilkinson said last week that, when the building was constructed in the early 1870s, "the quality of mortar used was not very good." He added that the current renovation project will be a "permanent repair." Wilkinson said the University was left with the choice to "either repair it in a controlled system or some time in the future there will be a failure [that would] dictate that a portion of the building would be evacuated." The College Hall renovation began in 1987, when the wall facing Houston Hall was repaired. Since then, offices for the School of Arts and Sciences and secretary have been relocated from their original locations in the building. SAS Dean Rosemary Stevens returned to her original College Hall office at the end of last week, Wilkinson said. In preparation for today's moves of the president's and provost's staffs, Physical Plant said it only had to make "minimal alterations" to the fifth floor Mellon Bank building. "[It] wasn't considered to be a renovation," Wilkinson said. Carpet and some ceiling tiles were replaced, he said. Also, since the fifth floor used to house psychology labs, Physical Plant workers boarded up one side of the two-way mirrors which are installed throughout the floor.