The board is about to approve a total of 4.5 million dollars in order to repair the outside of University Hall, according to Montclair State University President Susan Cole.
“The sod of University Hall needs upkeep,” Cole said. “It’s been there for a while now.”
Cole went into more detail about the project.
“The skin of buildings is subject to deterioration, so [the repairs] include cleaning, sealing, there are leaks in the building, insulation, things they called ‘weep screeds,’ control joints, window sills, roof work that needs patching, [and] all of the roof flashings,” Cole said.
This construction project is set to take place over the course of summer 2019, and if needed, summer of 2020, in order to prevent interference with the campus’ heavy usage periods.
Senior political science major Lauren Alemany believes this money would be spent better elsewhere.
“Montclair [State] should concern themselves with more imperative topics, such as putting the money toward hiring full-time professors instead of worrying about ‘appearance,'” Alemany said.
She continued to express concerns about how tuition is spent.
“My parents pay full tuition for me to go to school and get an education, but instead the money is going toward the mere window outside of my classroom,” Alemany said.
Cole explained that because University Hall is such a large building, if repairs aren’t done every 15 years or so, the building will deteriorate; with some of Montclair State’s buildings deteriorating in the past in the same manner.
Junior linguistics major Allie Libertino believes parking is a larger problem that needs investing rather than University Hall repairs.
“I feel as though there are more important things Montclair [State] could be spending millions of dollars on,” Libertino said. “For example, maybe 2-3 more parking decks, one for residents, one for teachers and another for commuters.”
She then addressed the matter of University Hall, tying it to her parking concerns.
“University Hall is perfectly fine and does not need any more improvements,” Libertino said. “The parking at this campus is absolutely insane, and it’s terrible that [Montclair State] ignores this important problem.”
Cole stated that University Hall is a large and complicated building that gets a lot of weather, thus why it needs the repairs.
“It is right in the path of the north wind,” Cole said.
