Students find lab classes cancelled, some offices need to be relocated

By Rory Sa

Senior Shelly Cook first heard about it on the morning news.

When the deaf education major tried to submit a paper to the office of instructor Nan Barker, located in the Lab school building, she found the way blocked by police. While she was later able to turn in her paper, the deaf education major said her class schedule was severely disrupted, with most of her classes on Monday and Tuesday canceled.

“ [The Deaf Education] department was my home away from home,” Cook said.

Cook is one of many students and faculty members whose lives have been disrupted by Monday’s fire at the Lab school, located on Keats and Jackson avenues. Professors from various departments are unable to reach their offices.

Vivian Vidoli, Dean of Graduate Studies, first heard about the fire on the radio. When she tried to enter the office for the McNair Graduate program police would not let her in until later that morning.

Learning Resource Center (LRC) coordinator Sonya Hildreth heard about the fire on the morning news, where she saw the sign for Free Tutoring standing next to the camera.

Hildreth and several others were allowed to go to the site to retrieve what they could from the ruins. Vidoli praised students and staff, including members form the Learning Resource Center, for attempting to retrieve what they could from the damaged lab offices in their quest to help students.

“ They went through trying to salvage everything so they can still do things for students,” Vidoli said.

The McNair office, located in Room 137, was devastated. Ashes and soot covered the entire room. The windows were broken and shattered by firemen as they struggled to contain the fire. Large chunks of charcoaled wood, shattered remnants of the ceiling, were scattered around the water-soaked carpet.

Hildreth described the LRC office as being “gutted out; burnt.”

“ The Fire department did a heck of a good job to salvage the building,” Vidoli said. But there was collateral damage beyond the offices themselves. Historical records and documents relating to the funding of the McNair program were damaged by fire, soot and water. Computer equipment, including four student workstations, were damaged.

Dedicated faculty and staff members salvaged what they could of the computers and brought them to their garages. Working from their homes, Vidoli said, they are working to try and save the data within the computers.

Tuesday staff members were unable to enter the lab school building. “They wouldn‘t let us in the area today because of the [Fire Restoration] crew,” Hildreth said.

Several departments, such as the Philosophy department, used the lab school to hold classes. The department had courses in Room 128, which will not reopen this semester due to extensive damage.

As of Tuesday evening Hildreth was in the middle of negotiations with Karen Bowerman, Dean of the Craig School of Business, to temporarily allow the Learning Resource Center to use room 23, the previous location of the career center, for tutoring.

Hildreth said that the campus is working on establishing several portable classrooms by next week. The LRC, Intensive Learning Experience, Ronald McNair program and Student Support services program will be relocated to these portables, which will be located in between the Peters Art building and the Satellite Student Union.

The LRC is still trying to determine how much has been lost. “A major amount of infrastructure, computer programming software has been lost,” Hildreth said. She said it would be difficult to estimate how much was lost until the LRC has the space necessary to evaluate what remains.

In light of the damage, Vidoli announced the temporary suspension of the McNair program. “Most McNair office support activities including student computer research access are suspended until further notice,” Vidoli said.

“ Students will be informed by e-mail about assignments and scheduled events that may be conducted elsewhere on campus,” Vidoli said.

The McNair program, named after Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair, is dedicated to helping underrepresented students earn doctorates in a wide variety of science degrees. The program currently serves about 30 students directly, Vidoli said, with about 100 students using the computers and taking advantage of staff members for their research.

Tutors from the LRC have offered to volunteer their time and energy to help the center get back on its feet. “It’s really heartwarming that people who worked as tutors are willing to pitch in and help get things going again,” Heldrith said.

Hildreth asks students to be patient while the LRC, which offers free tutoring to students, while they “set up shop.”

“ We’ll get up and running as soon as we can,” Hildreth said.