Foss Hill dorms will undergo major renovations in two to three years at a cost of $6.7 million dollars, Interim Dean of the College Peter Patton announced at the WSA meeting on Sunday. Patton also spoke about renovations to student lounge spaces and the Dean of the College search. The WSA discussed possible changes to the Code of Non-Academic Conduct after Patton’s presentation.
Patton spoke to the assembly and took questions for about 45 minutes. He said that 200 Church St., Eclectic and LoRise would undergo minor renovations this summer that would address general structural and maintenance issues. Following his comments on this summer’s repairs, Patton took questions from assembly members who raised concerns over possible lapses in the proposed work.
Patton discussed major renovations to the Foss Hill dorms that will retain their exterior, but be drastically renovated on the interior. He asserted that the University intends to stick to the $6.7 million figure.
He also noted that Wesleyan has yet to finalize the details of these changes to Foss Hill dorms. According to Patton, this means that the Administration is still open to student input about the upcoming renovations. In response to a question, Patton asserted that current work on the WestCo café and lounge are not included in the $6.7 million figure, which is a separate undertaking.
Patton also announced that the Administration has narrowed down the number of candidates for the Dean of the College post to two applicants, the current Senior Associate Provost and Dean of Continuing Studies Billy Weitzer and Interim Dean of the College at Connecticut College Maria A. Cruz-Saco. Both candidates will be on campus regularly in the near future and will appear before the student body and administration, according to Patton.
In an email to the Wesleyan community on Monday, Patton encouraged students, faculty and staff to send questions and comments about the candidates by e-mail to President Bennet.
The WSA also debated possible procedural changes to the Code of Non-Academic conduct. WSA President Emily Polak ’05 presented several possible changes, but no official action was taken.
Following some 40 minutes of discussion, many members came to a consensus that any change to the code should involve Student Life Committee oversight, to assist in directing student ideas to the WSA.
“While most changes to the code do in fact go through some amount of collective input, streamlining the process should allow us to avoid any abrupt changes that may not be the best outcome for all those involved,” Polak said.
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