By Kelsey Roebuck 

roebuckk@grinnell.edu

Although the Grinnell campus is dotted with a brand new sports facility, new dorms, and an improved Science building, the College has a long list of improvements yet to be implemented. Last renovated in 1989-1990, the Alumni Recitation Hall (ARH) is in need of a few alterations.

“The classrooms in ARH are the biggest problem; they are not the right size for the classes taught there,” wrote Vice President of Campus Services John Kalkbrenner in an email.

Unfortunately, simply enlarging classrooms is a bit of a problem for the nearly 100-year-old building building.

“Many of the internal walls in ARH are weight carrying. They hold up the building. Therefore we cannot move many of the walls in ARH,” Kalkbrenner said.

One of the solutions to this issue would be to build an addition on the north side of ARH (toward 8th Ave.) that could accommodate larger classrooms. The original building would then be converted into faculty offices.

“We can add walls in ARH, but moving them is the problem,” Kalkbrenner said. “So making a classroom into smaller spaces would work.”

ARH was designed as an L-shaped building with one wing facing 8th Ave. A lack of funds prohibited finishing construction.

Plans for renovations and new construction could take up to two years to design and another few years to build. Also, because ARH will likely be in use throughout the construction, the improvements could take even longer. Nevertheless, Kalkbrenner is confident that the “ARH/Carnegie Project” will be a high priority for the College in the next ten years.

“Ultimately, the Trustees will decide, but I think that there is a very good chance that the college will move ahead on at least some of the projects,” he said.