AMHERST — Potential funding from state legislation that would allow the University of Massachusetts to undertake major capital planning work in the coming years will include ongoing discussions about academic buildings that could be replaced or renovated.
At the Faculty Senate meeting on May 7, Tilman Wolf, deputy chancellor for Operational and Organizational Strategies, explained how the BRIGHT Act: An Act to Build Resilient
Infrastructure to Generate Higher-Ed Transformation, could benefit the UMass campus.
“This is an opportunity to do large projects on campus that normally we wouldn’t have the money to do,” Wolf said.
The Senate approved the $3.28 billion bond in February that would modernize public higher education facilities, with the UMass system to receive $1.25 billion over 10 years. For UMass Amherst specifically, the campus could receive between $600 million and $800 million for projects tied to deferred maintenance, modernization and decarbonization.
“We’re excited about this because it allows us to make improvements at buildings that are a problem,” Wolf said.
As part of the process, Wolf encouraged all faculty and staff to participate in a spreadsheet tool that will allow them to offer input on how buildings, classrooms and laboratories could be improved. But Wolf said that outcomes generated by this tool should be seen as scenarios, “just to explore potentially what we would do with this.”
There will be high-level discussions among campus leaders on what actually happens with the money, as all new construction will have to be powered by electric sources.
Some at the Faculty Senate meeting wondered whether this legislation could address immediate concerns with building conditions. Wolf said the spreadsheet is the best way to make known what some of the issues are that could be solved over the long term, but to contact the university’s Environmental Health and Safety department if there’s an emergency.
Specific concerns about the condition of a workspace are not being addressed in this way, which is why he could not respond to a list of concerns brought by one of the unions on campus.
Wolf’s presentation came a few weeks after librarians had raised concerns after seeing internal documents being circulated showing the possibility of the W.E.B. DuBois Library, the 28-story building that opened in 1973, being demolished to make way for a new library building.
Wolf said these were among scenarios that show how the spreadsheet works, with a 200,000-square-foot building to replace it. “We’re not taking down the library,” Wolf said.
Wolf, though, said the library is a building with the longest deferred maintenance. He said it’s important that if there is a different library building that it could be smaller, yet with improved space for students and workers, and no longer having to wait for elevators.
At the April Faculty Senate meeting, Allison Messier, business and entrepreneurship librarian and a member of the Faculty Senate, said all scenarios showing DuBois being knocked down caused consternation for colleagues.
“Calls for a new library should be out right now, if you’re talking about taking that one down,” Messier said.
Chancellor Javier Reyes was also blunt that the current library will remain standing. “There was never a plan to demolish the building,” Reyes said.
But Reyes said with the BRIGHT Act, UMass officials will have to be comfortable talking about all buildings that need to be refurbished and what will happen to those spaces when addressing deferred maintenance and net-zero obligations.
