College Evaluates Overused Academic Space

Come next spring, some theater and dance students may find themselves rehearsing in Crane Pool.

Two committees were recently formed to examine the effectiveness of academic space on the Oberlin campus. The committees have been formed in response to what Clayton Koppes, Acting President of the College, has called "serious pressure on academic spaces."

"Oberlin has a paradoxical situation when it comes to space," said Koppes. "We have some unmet programmatic needs on one hand and some woefully underutilized buildings on the other. King/Rice is overflowing, Peters Hall is at or exceeding capacity, and the Conservatory is overflowing."

In particular, students seeking spaces for theater and dance applications have been left out in the cold. "The main problem is that there's not enough space to fill the needs of theater and dance students," said junior Sarah Fask.

"We've had students rehearsing in the bathrooms," said Paul Moser, Chair of the Theater and Dance Program. "[Warner] wasn't built for what we use it for. They need to provide a theater space and a rehearsal space for the students. It's all we can do to support the curriculum."

Students in other areas have felt the pressure as well. "Rooms in the Conservatory, rooms in King, rooms in Peters should be more organized and publicly accessible to students. Not everyone's in the Con and has practice space," said senior Matt Hill.

The committees plan to assess the use of academic spaces on campus, and to survey the space needs of the Oberlin community. They will discuss ways to transform and make more accessible poorly utilized spaces in Carnegie, Hales Gym, South Hall and Warner Center.

One committee will be formed from the Board of Trustees and headed by Judy Plows, Vice Chair of the Board. This committee has its first meeting planned for the middle of October.

The other will be formed from the General Faculty committee in order to insure campus involvement in the discussion. This committee met for the first time on Tuesday.

The committees will work in parallel, meeting periodically throughout the semester. They plan to present their findings to President Dye when she returns in the spring.

Warner Center, the headquarters of Oberlin's theater and dance department, is one of the buildings the committee will likely focus on. Originally a gym, Warner has poor sound insulation, and the fact that it is shared by both theater and dance students can lead to problems. "Sometimes it's so noisy it's hard to teach a class," said Moser.

There are several offices on the fourth floor that are unusable because they don't meet the fire regulations. And putting on performances in Warner main space has been problematic because of the lack of handicapped access, dressing rooms and bathrooms. Finally, the competition between dance projects, extracurricular and curricular theater has left Warner heavily overcrowded.

"Warner is a good building with great potential and it sits right at the epicenter of campusŠ I hope Warner figures seriously in the discussions," said Koppes.

In addition, there has been interest in improving residential facilities and Wilder Student Union. Peter Goldsmith has suggested creating a black box theater in Crane Pool. "Potentially, Crane Pool is a beautiful space," said Koppes.

Some are skeptical about the efficacy and composition of the committee. "We've asked for theater and dance representation on these committees in the past," said Moser, who was unaware of the administration's efforts. Others question the need for such an effort. One student hypothesized that "Koppes is just looking for something to do." Sophomore Michael Murray, said, "I haven't heard of any problems with students getting spaces."

But ask the many extracurricular groups turned away from Warner and other facilities every week, and you may hear a different tune.

As Koppes put it, "The question is how to match our programmatic needs on one hand and our existing spaces on the other. None of these questions is simple and none of the solutions is cheap. This is really an exciting and fundamental process. I hope that by early next year we'll have the issues clarified so that some decisions can be made."