Construction on Ball State University’s Cooper Physical Science Building began in Sept. 2019, according to a press release from the university, and is still in construction over five years later.
Ball State’s Communication Center released a statement Nov. 1 regarding the most recent state of the building.
According to the statement, “Hot water is down for unscheduled repairs in the Cooper Science Building. You will experience colder temperatures in the building while repairs are being performed.”
First-year pre-nursing student Natalie Switzer shared her thoughts on the restoration of Cooper Science, as well the confusion behind it in comparison to the university’s already existing — and functioning — foundational sciences building and health profession building.
“If they are trying to restore [Cooper Science] they should stop. But, at the same time, Ball State is a very historic place, so I don't blame [the university] for wanting to pull through,” Switzer said.
Second-year biology student Kasey Wheatley voiced her thoughts on the construction and how it has impacted her learning.
“I have a class right outside the elevator on the back side of the building. This means there was a large amount of added noise in the classroom,” Wheatley said.
While she has not been directly impacted by the construction apart from noise, Wheatley said she knows people who have faced difficulty meeting course requirements because of it.
“I'm glad [construction] is almost done, but did it really need to take five years? My roommate is an astronomy major, and her older friends in the major have had extreme problems, such as required classes not being offered for two or three semesters,” Wheatley said.
First-year pre-nursing student Chloe Lopez has a class in the Cooper Science Building. She agreed with Wheatly about the inconvenience of the noise, but said the ongoing restoration project has had “no major effect on learning.”
Lopez’s sentiments are shared by faculty who reside in the Cooper Science Building.
Department Chair of Environment, Geology, Natural Resource, Geography, Meteorology and Associate Professor of Geography Petra Zimmerman said she believes construction has not impacted students' learning.
“It has not negatively affected student instruction of anything,” she said.
Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Management Jessique Haeft summed up the building’s construction as a “Cinderella story,” because her old classroom had repeated issues throughout the year, so the delayed construction feels fitting to her.
“The classroom I used to be in flooded six times a year. It was in a basement with no windows, and it constantly had gas leak problems,” Haeft said.
She acknowledged that the noise caused by the construction could have been distracting to some students, but in her case, it didn’t impact her negatively because she’d been transferred to teach in the university’s West Quad building, which she thought was beneficial.
The construction is ongoing as of now, with no released end date, but Cooper Science students are hopeful to learn in a better environment.
Contact Shelby Anderson via email at sanderson9@bsu.edu.
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