Just like the long lines in Starbucks, spotting Blue II at the HRC and unpredictable Indiana weather, scaffolding and construction crews have been the norm around campus, especially at Jordan Hall.

The current construction projects on Jordan Hall include repairing the entryway near the old post office location and the entryway by the College of Education.

Jerry Carlson, director of maintenance services, said the entryway project near the old post office started last June when some bulges were noticed around the entrance.

The crews have been working on tearing down the wall, putting in new mortar, relaying the stones and putting new limestone around that entry’s arches. The other entryway project near the COE consists of similar repairs.

The repairs are addressing stones that have become loose due to mortar disintegration around them.

The post office entryway is set to be finished March 1. The budget for the project is approximately $700,000, Carlson said.

The university’s own five-person mason crew is working on the entrance near the COE, and that

funding comes from the operations budget.

Eventually, the plan is to relay the stones around the whole building, Carlson said.

Richard Michal, executive director of facilities, said he likes to think of Jordan Hall as the Golden Gate Bridge, which constantly has crews touching up the bridge’s paint.

Michal said the repairs are not structurally important as far as holding the building up, but weather wears on the stone walls.

When the mortar around the stones begin to break down, cracks conform and let moisture into the building, and cause bubbles in the paint and plaster on the walls.

Michal said the cracks in the walls are also what allow leaks when it rains. The stair towers in the building have covers on the ceilings to collect leakage.

“Those are the bane of my existence,” Michal said. “I want to get the whole building fixed so we can eliminate those and restore the building back to original beauty.”

Taking on that challenge has not been without its challenges.

Charles Truax, structures supervisor, said along with inclement weather conditions, the building itself can get in the way of renovation.

“It’s the scale of the size of the building,” Truax said. “You can’t work everywhere on the building at one time.

“We have to always make adjustments to be sensitive to the activities of the building. It can be quite noisy, which can disrupt classes.”

Truax said to be respectful of classes, the crews occasionally have to rearrange their schedules to work around class time.

The more than 80-year-old building will require more work, so Carlson said he hopes to have some deferred maintenance money identified so work can continue.

Jordan Hall has been under construction for more than 25 years, but Carlson said officials hopes this relaying of stones will be more of a permanent fix, rather than just touching up the walls at the mortar or joints between the stones.

The tuck-pointing, or touching up the mortar, was a quick fix to address leaks but only lasted four or five years, Truax said. The relaying of the stones should last closer to 20 years.

Next up for Jordan Hall is a five-year plan to address the building’s most vulnerable aspects, which include many of the entryways.

Specifically, the entryway just to the west of the post office entrance will be fixed next. Then, over the summer, crews will start working on the entrance near the president’s office.

Although crews are constantly doing preventative maintenance and it requires a lot of resource, Michal said it comes with the territory when dealing with historical landmarks like Jordan.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Michal said. “Our challenge is to recognize it as that. What great opportunity and what beautiful buildings to have. You can never rebuild those buildings or replace them.

“We’re stewards of these resources, and it’s our responsibility to protect them and to preserve them while also meeting the mission of the university to provide safe, comfortable environments for our students, faculty and staff.”

Tree leaves and other plant life on campus may be changing color as summer ends, but departments and organizations around Butler University are continuing to go green.

In addition to being environmentally friendly, Butler is also saving and earning money with its numerous green initiatives.

The two major points in Butler’s quest to become more green are recycling and energy saving.

Dick Hamm, director of housekeeping,  said several positive changes have been made to the school’s recycling program since 2006.

“There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but I think if we look over the course of five or six years, we’ve come a long way,” Hamm said.

Butler’s recent partnership with ABITIBI Bowater and long-standing relationship with Ray’s Trash Service help the university deal with a large amount of its waste.

Green and yellow ABITIBI bins are in six locations on campus and are meant for the paper generated by the university. Hamm said Butler receives approximately $100 from ABITIBI every three months for the paper it recycles.

Two cardboard compactors are also located on campus. The university pays Ray’s Trash $100 to move the bins, but Ray’s then pays Butler between $200 and $300 per pull. This happens as many as three times per year, Hamm said.

Butler also has a scrap metal recycle bin, which Hamm said is pulled by Ray’s four to five times per year and earns the university up to $400 per pull.

“(Ray’s Trash has) been with us a long time, and it has been a good relationship,” Hamm said. “They give us above-and-beyond service.”

Some of the money earned through the recycling program is used to purchase other things for the program.

Concrete pads—each costing $1,200—needed to be placed underneath the cardboard compactors and were paid for with the money earned by the program.

Butler also received a $24,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in 2008 to upgrade recycling stations on campus.

As much money as the university earns from its recycling program, even more money is being saved through Butler’s energy-saving practices.

Jerry Carlson, director of maintenance services, said switching Irwin Library from steam heating to decentralized power heating has saved the university $30,000 per year.

“It’s more about lowering your consumption than lowering your cost,” Carlson said.

Nearly all of Butler’s buildings are now heated by decentralized hot water heating systems instead of steam boilers, with the exception of Schwitzer Hall. Carlson said this prevents the university from having to spend more money on natural gas.

Butler’s two chemistry labs recently received new fume hoods allowing air to be contained within a filter instead of exhausting it outside.

Carlson said the change will save the university about $50,000 per year.

The money Butler saves through changes in energy consumption funds new energy-saving projects. Carlson said Butler officials look to take on projects that can be paid back in 10 years or fewer.

“It just makes sense to try to get those projects done and paid back in a hurry,” Carlson said.

Other energy-saving maneuvers adopted by the university include placing light sensors in rooms and Information Techonology’s changing servers.

The light sensors read the amount of sunlight a room is receiving so light energy is not wasted.

IT’s smaller servers do not require as much energy to run and generate less heat, which ensures less energy is needed to cool the room they are housed in.

Hamm and Carlson said the Environment Concerns Organization, a student-run program, has also worked to push green initiatives on campus.

ECO President Daniel French said that the organization has held water bottle drives (meant to reduce the number of water bottles used by students), had discussions about water conservation with students and cleaned the White River on canoes.

The organization also participates in Recyclemania, an annual spring recycling competition. ECO earned first place in the state in the event last semester.

French said that while faculty and staff may lean toward money concerns when thinking about green initiatives, the university is making smart decisions.

“I think they’re looking in the right direction,” French said. “Butler is really willing to work with students.”

French said President Jim Danko’s signing of the President’s Climate Commitment last April is one sign of this.

According to Butler’s website, the commitment is “a pledge to create a long-range plan to eliminate the campus’ net emissions of greenhouse gases.”

French said the work of Timothy Carter, director of the Center for Urban Ecology, has also been beneficial to green initiatives on campus.

Carter works with Butler’s campus farm and said the farm has saved the university money in multiple ways.

“(The farm) sells produce to people at Butler and local restaurants,” Carter said. “Also, a student recently turned vegetable oil into diesel fuel to run a John Deere vehicle, which costs much less (than gasoline).”

Despite the ongoing improvements to Butler’s green initiatives, Hamm said students need to be more aware of the university’s attempts to go green.

“I think the message needs to come from the students,” Hamm said. “I also think ECO can be instrumental in getting the word out to students.”

Carlson said Butler can and needs to continue down its current green path.

“I’m sure there’s always more that can be done,” Carlson said. “We’ve been on the cutting edge before it was popular to talk about green products.”

The Butler University maintenance committee is looking to start addressing the lack of parking and shrinking living space within the next month.

Butler is in the midst of many renovations, including a $1.7 million restoration on the exterior of Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The restoration was funded by a national grant and a matched dollar amount from the university.

The other major projects on campus include the completion of the Schrott Center and the refurbishment of Jordan Hall.

Senior Project Manager Craig Hardee said that a master plan was drawn up in 2011 that included more renovations for the campus.

“There is a total remodel for the interior of Hinkle in the design process, with new bathrooms, seats and scoreboard, along with a new residence hall located most likely in the front lawn of Schwitzer, renovations of the current halls and a parking garage,” Hardee said.

Rich Michal, executive director of facilities, said that the parking garage is a huge need because total enrollment is growing and the need for more space is vital.

However, members of the committee are trying to maintain the aesthetics of campus and not diminish it with this new structure, which would most likely be located near Schwitzer Hall and the Fairbanks Center.

“Butler is a traditional land-locked campus, and we want to maintain that so this campus is beautiful for centuries to come,” Michal said.

Jerry Carlson, director of maintenance services, said that the 2011 master plan that was drawn up will hopefully be completed within the next few years.

“We have a September board meeting which will point us in what direction to take, but the parking garage is so far set to be completed in August of 2014, which will be just in time for the new year in preparation of increasing enrollment,” Carlson said.

Though current students may not see all these projects completed in their time at Butler, the plans are set to improve this campus for many years to come.