History Dept. will return to old home

After a long absence, the History Department is finally returning home to College Hall -- but only for a while. In August, following several years in exile at 3401 Walnut Street, the department will move back into College Hall, the building it has called home since 1872. Due to renovations to College Hall -- which houses the undergraduate admissions office and the offices of the president and provost -- the department was forced to relocate to 3401 Walnut Street six years ago. Initially, faculty and staff were supposed to move back to the building's third floor in 1999, but delays in the renovation process postponed the move indefinitely. Since then, history professors have complained about the location and modern character of 3401 Walnut Street. But according to Linda Koons, executive assistant to the provost, construction on the building is only two-thirds complete, and there is no concrete time frame for when construction will be finished. "We have to do some renovation work," Koons said. "Everyone will have to move out in five to seven years." The University still has to renovate the west wing, where the History Department and provost's office are located. Koons said the department initiated the move by putting in a request with the dean's office to be relocated despite the incomplete renovations. "History realized that it might be another five years, and they didn't want to be out of the building for that long," Koons said. "We couldn't let them come back in without letting them know that they'd have to move out again." Although no exact schedule has been set for the final renovations to the building, Koons said the process could take three to four years to finish once the History Department is removed from the building again -- which creates about a decade-long time line for completion. Despite the possibility of having to move back out, History faculty members were excited to hear about the department's pending return to the building. "It is where History belongs," College of Arts and Sciences Dean and History Professor Richard Beeman said in an e-mail statement. "I would rather have my office in an unrenovated College Hall than in any of the other alternatives." Beeman said he is confident that if the department is forced to move out at some point, it will not be for an extended period of time. "Even if it were necessary for people in the presently unrenovated portion of the building to move out temporarily, I think the disruption would be a short-term one, not a long-term one," Beeman said. "We're historians -- we take the long view, not the short view." History Department Chairwoman Lynn Lees said that while the department would not be gaining much space by moving back to the centrally located building, the space is more prestigious. "It is a different quality of space," Lees said. "The History Department has been in College Hall since 1872, when that building first opened. Of the original University buildings, it is one that ought to have an academic affiliation." History Professor Bruce Kuklick said he feels that College Hall should house one of the University's oldest departments. "I think it's symbolic in the sense that you don't want College Hall to be taken over by the administration and its corporate outlook," Kuklick said. "I think the academic side of the University should be represented." In order to accommodate the department, some of the third floor offices now in College Hall will be forced to take over the space that the department currently occupies in 3401 Walnut Street. Administrative affairs, human resources and the graduate division of the School of Arts and Sciences are among those that will be forced over to the Walnut Street location. Kuklick said the newly vacated building is better suited for the administrative offices than for a department. "I feel more appropriate in [the College Hall] setting," Kuklick said. "3401 Walnut is sort of a low-end corporate building." Lees said the department hopes to finish moving back into the third floor of College Hall by the start of the fall semester.