Bio. bldg. fund grows by $2.5M

Students and professors who feared they would never see the construction of new biology facilities promised to the department need not be so skeptical. Thanks to a $2.5 million gift to the Biology Department this past summer, the University is on its way to achieving the School of Arts and Sciences' No. 1 facilities goal: renovating Leidy Laboratories, located at 38th Street and Hamilton Walk, and constructing a new, state-of-the-art biology facility. But since about $15 million must be raised for the facility, University fundraisers still have a long way to go. The identities of the initial donors could not be immediately confirmed. In the meantime, University officials have met meet with architects from Ellenzweig Associates, a Boston-based architectural firm, for the past 15 months to discuss plans for the new facility, which is estimated to cost around $45 million. SAS will cover the $30 million not gathered through fundraising. Plans for overhauling the department's facilities tentatively include adding teaching laboratories to Leidy, relocating the greenhouses located directly behind the building and building a new research facility in their place. The school also plans to build a structure to house student lounges and a lecture hall in place of the Kaplan building, located behind Leidy. The donation is a major a step in the right direction toward achieving these ends, but it is not nearly enough, according to Biology Department Chairperson Andy Binns. "The gift is a terrific beginning," SAS Dean Samuel Preston said. "[But] we will not have a construction schedule until we have achieved substantial success in our fundraising." Until now, all architectural plans have been tentative. Before blueprints are drawn and construction begins, SAS must raise the additional $12.5 million, Preston said. In the past, University officials have explained that raising money for the building will be difficult since the donor pool for a departmental project is always smaller than that for a University-wide project like the Perelman Quadrangle. University officials said they could not predict when the fundraising goal would be met. Support for the renovations among students and faculty members is widespread, as both groups are displeased with the working conditions in the present facilities. Considering the popularity of the Biology Department's curriculum, it is not surprising that many students find the cramped and outdated building unusable. "The conditions of Leidy Labs are rather primitive," College sophomore Anil Rajendra said. "I think it's a good idea that they're being renovated. The facilities are not efficient for good research." Leidy is no picnic either for faculty members trying to do their research. Professors have complained of problems from leaky ceilings ruining computers to impure air, which can contaminate experiments. "Our [Biology] 101 labs are low-tech, and hell, I'm not happy about that," Binns said. "The only factor preventing the project from beginning is the fundraising." An additional advantage to the new facility is that it would increase Penn's ability to attract senior faculty to the University's program. Right now, Penn faculty members are working under conditions that could make a faculty recruiter's hair stand on edge. "I'm part of the ecology group and right now we're kind of scattered all over the place," Biology Professor Daniel Janzen said. "It would be great if we could have more space."