Starting next semester, the utilization of Spotts World Culture (SWC) Building will be kept to a minimum, as classes will not be offered on the second and third floors of the building due to large amounts of people in the building at once during busy times.
The 59,671 square foot SWC Building currently houses the English Department, the History Department, the Philosophy Department, the Political Science Department, Interdisciplinary Programs, classrooms that correspond with each department and the Office for Global Engagement.
Members of the Slippery Rock University Master Plan Committee, Amir Mohammadi and Mary Ann King explained the purpose for this decision. Mahammadi is the Vice President for Finance and Administration and Mary Ann King is the Director for Academic Resources.
King said that the building is not deemed as ‘closed’ because faculty offices will still be located inside SWC Building.
Mohommadi explained that between classes, there are too many people in the hallways at once.
“There have been some concerns over the traffic of students coming in and out of the building,” Mohommadi said.
He said that the main reasoning behind the decision is to re-purpose the building in the interest of students, staff and faculty. He said that the future of SWC Building will be addressed by the Master Plan Committee very soon. Mohammadi said that the committee is trying to determine how many classes are reasonable to be held on the second and third floor at once.
According to the 2007 Slippery Rock University Master Plan, 46 percent of classes are in Eisenburg Classroom Building (ECB) and SWC Building. King said that adjustments have been made to relocate classrooms off of the second and third floor of SWC Building.
“All of those classes [on the second and third floor of SWC Building] have already been relocated to either classes on the first floor [of SWC Building] or other buildings within the quad,” King said. “We are just trying to utilize our classrooms as much as we possibly can.
According the Master Class Schedule, classes that were originally housed in SWC building, will now be relocated in Vincent Science Center, the Advanced Technology and Science Hall and ECB.
King added that the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department is housed in Patterson, but that currently a lot of classes in that department are located in SWC Building. She explained that these classes will be moved to the upper end of campus in buildings like Caruth Rizza Hall and Strain Behavioral Science Building. She also added that a few honors classes have been moved to Maltby.
Mohammadi said that the rebuild of the SWC Building Bridge is currently up for discussion by the Master Plan Committee.
“The rebuild of the Spotts Bridge is being reviewed,” Mohammadi explained. “The decision is going to be made soon.”
In November of 2013, the SWC Building Bridge was closed, as it was determined to be dangerous to walk on. The rebuild of the bridge was estimated to cost over 100,000 dollars.
King said that it is very important to understand that the bridge was taken down for safety reasons and that as soon as the bridge was declared unsafe, action was taken immediately.
Mohammadi explained that the building of a new bridge will require specific regulations and that it is already a very costly project.
“We have to follow rules and regulations,” he said.
