Though "ugly', Psych Bldg. is full of tradition

It is arguably the ugliest building on campus. Nestled snugly between fraternity and sorority houses on 38th and Walnut streets, the Psychology Office Building is well known for its hideous appearance. "I tell my friends to look for the ugliest building on the block and they find it without fail," said Psychology Professor Robert Rescorla. The building's landmark feature is the peculiar grating that covers its facade. Divided into two separate townhouses earlier on in the century, the building was converted sometime in the 1950s, Psychology Chairperson John Sabini said. "The grating is there to conceal the fact that [the building] was once two buildings," Sabini said. The building would look "kind of odd" without the grating, he added. Still, Sabini has asked the University to remove the grating, only to be told that leaks would inevitably result, he said. He said he then requested to have the grating at least cleaned, but he got the same response. Leaks would be caused by any tampering with the grating, he was told. Sabini, who has been at the University since 1976, said every year the School of Arts and Sciences reports that constructing a new office building for the Psychology Department is one of its top priorities. It is eighteen years later and the office at 3815 Walnut Street still stands. "Chairmen of other departments extend their sympathies to me," Sabini joked. Last December, the School of Arts and Sciences released a strategic plan listing SAS's priorities for the remainder of this decade. In this report the Psychology Department was hailed as one of the best in the country, having facilities which are among "the worst on campus." The report calls for a new building to be built at 37th Street and Locust Walk, on the site where The Book Store presently stands. Sabini said The Book Store site would be an ideal location for a new office building. The Psychology Lab Building is on 37th and Walnut Streets, so an annex could be built to connect that building and any new building on the site, he said. Rescorla added that the main problem with the Psychology Department's current facilities is that the department's offices are spread out over four buildings. Professors have offices in either the Lab Building, the Furnberger Annex behind the office building, the Eisenlohr Annex across the street from the office building or the office building itself. The department is further decentralized because most psychology lectures are held in Stiteler Hall, Sabini said. Due to scarce funds, Sabini said he knows that the SAS plan to construct a building which could house the department's offices and lecture halls is probably far from reality. But both Rescorla and Sabini said SAS's efforts to have a new Psychology building built by the end of the decade are sincere. "There is a great difficulty to get money for buildings from [fund raising] campaigns," Rescorla said. Sabini said he hopes President-elect Judith Rodin, who graduated from the University with a degree in psychology, can help the Psychology Department in its quest for a new office building. "We will get to look at her and she gets to look at us," he said, explaining that Rodin will live directly across from the Psychology building. "You would think that would motivate her." Another long-time resident of the office building is more skeptical. Ruth Roemer, the department's coordinating assistant for graduate and undergraduate studies, has worked at the University for eighteen years. And she has heard all the rumors about the Psychology Department finding a new home. "I'm going to retire and everything will be the same," she said.