The following message was sent to those who registered to attend the virtual Indigenous Student Center and Mecha House Town Hall on Nov. 30, 2022.
Thank you to those who could join us at the town hall last Wednesday evening regarding the Mecha house and Indigenous Student Center (ISC). The video of the meeting is available at youtu.be/SVX0HZ0hdQk [and the Facilities Planning & Management presentation delivered during the meeting is linked below]. Several people asked about attendance given that the webinar format didn’t allow for attendees to see one another. There were 89 total attendees at the town hall, 32 of whom indicated they had used one or both houses.
Construction of Levy Hall, a new academic building that will be located near the Mecha house and ISC, will begin in fall 2023. We want to be clear: this construction will not include demolition of either the Mecha house or ISC. We will work with students in the spring semester to assess the environmental impact of Levy Hall construction on the houses and to keep them informed and engaged.
As noted by Facilities Planning & Management (FP&M) during the town hall, there is a long-term facilities plan (2015 Campus Master Plan) that relates to both these structures and others in the area. In that plan, a new academic building and a parking structure were proposed for the area containing these houses as part of a broader plan looking at this region of campus.
We want to be clear that at this time, there is no commitment to move forward with the parking structure. These long-term facilities plans inform our future possibilities, but they do not necessarily move forward in the way they were initially envisioned. There is also significant time for collective conversation and engagement prior to any such action.
Important questions were raised at the forum. We are working with our colleagues to gather and clarify key information to address these questions that we’ll share in the coming weeks.
We understand this process has caused tension and frustration during an already stressful time of year. We are committed to creating more opportunities for consultation, engagement, and trust-building and look forward to resetting in a more collaborative way next semester.
Rob Cramer
Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
Lori Reesor
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
