Daggy Hall is under construction this summer for roof and gutter repairs that have been having problems throughout the recent school years. This construction is not in relation to the previous budget cuts of the Theatre Department.
Brown Contracting is the company involved with the construction on Daggy Hall this summer. They were unable to follow through with making a comment.
Washington State University Facilities Operations, Timothy L. Rundquist said, “Daggy Hall the last several years has been leaking and forming ice in places around the building that have become hazardous for pedestrians.” He also continues to say, “A leaking roof also leads to deterioration of a building itself. Thus, the reason for the project is to preserve the building and extend its life, and to make the area around it safer for building users.”
Rundquist continues to inform that the work itself includes new shingles on sloped portions of the roof, new ethylene propylene diene monomer, which is a type of roofing rubber. The EPDM will be on the high, flat roof over the stage fly loft with new gutters all the way around. He says that this roof should last between 30 and 50 years with normal maintenance efforts.
The reason that the construction is taking place now, instead of before the budget cuts were made is due to student activity said Rundquist. Daggy Hall is on the edge of campus and gets an excessive amount of foot traffic and has garage parking. He concludes that the upgrade of the building is to ensure safety to the students and the incoming and outgoing traffic of the garage.
The construction of Daggy Hall is in no correlation with the Theatre Department being canceled last fall of 2009 due to the budget cuts. Many students have been angered with the budget cuts and are now questioning why the building is being fixed now if it is no longer in existence said Professor Ray Pritchard of the Theatre Department. Pritchard said that students don’t know that Washington State University has two budgets; one that determines budget cuts and another that is involved with campus building maintenance.
Pritchard said that the inside of Daggy Hall was upgraded last year with almost half a million dollars into the project. He said, “Jones Theatre received new seats, the interior was repainted and a state of the art lightning system sound reflecting panels was put in.” and “the green room that is used by theatre students was also gutted and painted and refurbished.” All of these advancements in the Jones Theatre were made weeks prior to the budget cuts.
“That it is ironic that they did all this work on Jones Theatre, yet their department was still cut,” said Pritchard. His feeling is that the money that was used for advancements to the theatre should have been used instead to keep the department alive.
The Theatre Department does not know of any other department at WSU that will be moving into the building. The Speech Department is also located in Daggy Hall and is being relocated to Spokane. The Interior Design Department is the only department left in the hall that has not been cut. There has been no word from them if they are staying in the building or relocating to a different area.
Pritchard said that even though the Theatre Department has been cut, in fall 2010 and spring 2011 classes will still be offered. The class will not be as largely based as they had been previous years with a wide variety to choose from. The classes being offered will focus more on letting students who need to finish up their major or minor in Theatre. Other theatre classes will still be offered, but not the variety that was seen before the department was cut.
Pritchard does reveal that the Theatre Department had a meeting with the Provost, who is in charge of the main WSU Pullman branch, on Tuesday May, 18th to further discuss the life of the Theatre Department. The shutting down of theatre has not been finalized and fights for it to stay open will still continue next school year.
Daggy Hall construction is still undergoing and does not have a definite time-line of when it will be done. The Theatre Departments hopes that the new roof and gutters helps by fixing the problems, allowing for a better building in the future.
Contacts:
Timothy L. Rundquist
Architectural Supervisor, A&E Services
WSU Facilities Operations
(509) 335-9076
Ray A. Pritchard
Instructor, Acting
Theatre and Dance
Daggy Academics 316
(509)-335-2715
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