The Knox Student

While Knox students are enjoying the weather this summer, the school will spend nearly $1.2 million in fixing up various buildings and completing other projects around the campus.

Renovations will take place all over to help freshen up some of the aging spots on campus as well as help the school get up to code.

Getting up to code will involve finishing the dormitory sprinkler system, which still needs to be completed in six houses around campus.

Signs with concrete and brick bases will also replace six signs around campus.

“We have 11 of the purple picnic tables here. They will be installed throughout campus,” Director of Facility Services Scott Maust said. “I just received about 35 of the square cigarette urns … that we will be putting up this summer like we did down in the quad area.”

Some of the bigger projects the school will undertake are the second and final phase of repair to Seymour Library and new doors and steps for Alumni Hall.

The library, which has seen water damage for the past several years, will have work done in the Muelder Reading Room among other areas, fixing this water damage which has stopped since the roof repairs last year.

“They are going to start repairing the damage that has been done to the plaster and drywall,” Director of the Library Jeff Douglas said.

After that, the room will be repainted and recarpeted. While this is happening, the chairs and tables will be removed and refinished.

“Those tables were made for the original building … and this will be the first time that they will be cleaned and refinished,” Douglas said.

While students should expect the library renovation to be complete by the time they return, the steps on Alumni Hall might be a work in progress.

Currently, 600 feet of condensate line in the steam system, which leaves a trail of uninhabitable dirt from the library to the south east side of Old Main, will be replaced over the summer.

“We lose about 4,000 gallons of water a day [from the steam tunnels],” Maust said.

This leakage has sterilized the ground above it, preventing grass from growing above it, and also wastes energy and money.

In addition to the bigger repairs, students can expect to see regular maintenance in dorm rooms and a few new roofs around campus.

While contractors and employees of the school fill the campus during the summer, Director of Dining Services Helmut Mayer will be busy creating new food to liven up the menus in the Hard Knox Café and the Oak Room.

At least two dinners in the Oak Room will be replaced. Street Meats and Dog Days as well as the Italian beef lunch will be removed due to this year’s poor performance and will be replaced by a yet to be decided meal.

“We will definitely upgrade the lunch menu and make it more interesting,” Mayer said.

One new possible food item will be smoothies in the Café.

“There is the likelihood that there is going to be one. I don’t want to necessarily make the promise one hundred percent,” Mayer said. “The problem with smoothies is once you open the box there’s unlimited possibilities.”

The layout of the Café puts limitation on the possibilities and Mayer is worried that he will not be able to satisfy the wants of the students.

The Café will also see new chairs and ceiling tiles in addition to the new food items.