From fountain hopping to bubbling, Star Fountain has been the focus of many lasting memories for Butler students.

Today, it stands out as a black eye on campus.

While undergoing maintenance over the summer, a construction worker accidentally backed his pickup truck into the fountain, knocking several pieces of limestone loose.

Junior Rachel Head, a Butler student ambassador, said she is frustrated by the fountain’s current state.

“I love to talk about (the fountain) on tours,” Head said, “but it really frustrates me that it looks so messy. It seems like it’s been falling apart for the whole year now.”

Gerald Carlson manages the maintenance services team executing the work on Star Fountain. Carlson already possesses the limestone needed to fix the fountain, but he will be unable to begin working until the weather warms.

He said he hopes to complete construction over Spring Break in order to minimize distractions for students.

Once the limestone is replaced, Star Fountain will receive maintenance again over the summer.

Charlie Truax, structures supervisor, is looking for funding to replace the plumbing in Star Fountain.

“The fountain works fine just the way it is,” Truax said.
“It’s just old and needs to be re-done.”

Originally, the class of 2013 was expected to fund the project. However, the plans fell through, and Butler has been forced to look elsewhere for funding.  The university will most likely pay for the project.

The fountain is one of many maintenance projects currently on Truax’s schedule.

Now that construction is completed on Jordan Hall’s north entrance, he hopes to finish with construction on the south entrance within the next two weeks.  Once completed, maintenance will begin on two more entrances. Preparations will begin over Spring Break in order to minimize interruption of classes. However, the Jordan Hall loop will remain blocked off in order to store materials for construction.

Also on Butler’s construction schedule is a new roof over Clowes Memorial Hall and renovations in the B-Wing of ResCo, the B-Wing of Hinkle Fieldhouse and of Persephone Fountain.

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.”

Think “Indiana Jones” on Nov. 14, when the Butler University Student Foundation opens an ancient(ish) relic unearthed from the depths of Jordan Hall during recent renovations.

Junior Julie Robinson, BUSF co-director of student relations, said construction staff recently discovered a date stone containing a time capsule deep within the bricks of the building.

The exact age of the time capsule is a mystery, but it is estimated to be between 20 and 30 years old.

Robinson said not much is known about the capsule or the artifacts that have been locked within it for decades.

BUSF will open the time capsule on Nov. 14. Robinson and Ryan Love, the other co-director of student relations, are organizing the event.

“It’ll be interesting to see what past classes thought was important to Butler,” Robinson said. “Nowadays, a lot of us think of Blue or Trip or basketball as what really defines our Butler experience, so I am curious to see what Butler meant to people in the past.”

Love said BUSF hopes to continue the time capsule tradition by putting the BUSF traditions book back into the capsule to be buried for another class to find.

Love said working on the traditions book and engaging in BUSF gave him a personal connection to the book.

He said he hopes this same personal connection is mirrored in the items left in the capsule by students, faculty or staff from the past.

“I want a personal perspective of the history of Butler,” Love said. “You can go online and find the facts anywhere, but I’m hoping for something that’s handwritten and really gives a better view of what Butler was like 20 or 30 years ago.”

In addition to the traditions book, Robinson said Butler students have the chance to put some of their own memories back into the capsule.

She said students are encouraged to take pictures of what Butler means to them throughout Spirit Week, and those pictures will be considered when the capsule is once again filled.

Students have the opportunity to become a part of Butler history in the making, Love said. Anyone with a love for Butler and its history is welcome to join the event.

“Contribute to something that is much bigger than yourself,” he said. “Give back to Butler what it has given to you.”

Sophomore BUSF member Jaci Turner said the time capsule event adds a different component to Spirit Week.

“On the surface, Spirit Week is getting pumped for basketball season, but overall I think it creates a deeper sense of community within the Butler community,” Turner said. “I think it fits in great with understanding how the campus works together.”

Spirit Week kicks off Saturday with a tailgate party at the Health and Recreation Complex.  Monday through Wednesday, there will be tables at the gazebo outside Starbucks hosting different activities in the afternoon.

The time capsule revelation will conclude Spirit Week on Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. in Jordan Hall. It will be on the east side of the first floor, by the Office of Student Accounts.

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.

Homefield advantage means nothing when students do not attend spring sporting events.

I would expect Jordan Hall or the library to be empty on the weekend.

However, I wouldn’t expect this at one of the many athletic competitions that go on every weekend.

Student attendance at sports games this spring has been very low.

At the girls softball game v. the University of Illinois-Chicago the stands were half full and an overwhelming majority of the fans were parents.

The baseball team took their efforts to new levels when they played Wright State.

The Bulldogs provided the most popular drink at every college—beer—in an attempt to attract more fans.

Although the teams traded wins and losses, the extra fans that the booze attracted, boosted the offense as the team scored a combined 19 runs on the day.

Fan turnout influences success and the basketball team will get more fans than any other sport. Combine that with being in the Hoosier state, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

The exhaustion from the long basketball season might be a reason for the low turnout for spring sports, but it is not an excuse.

For all the love there is for the men’s basketball team, some could be shared among all sports.

The baseball, softball and track teams are all having decent seasons, and with a little fan support, the tennis team could improve upon its record.

Teams perform better across the board because of the positive atmosphere generated by the fans.

As a football player, I know that in football the 12th man is almost as important as anyone on the field.

The noise and atmosphere generated can mentally crack even some of the most experienced and skilled teams.

Since Butler is a small school, it is important that each group support each other. This applies to all sports in every season.

If the volleyball team or women’s basketball team got one-fourth of the fans that fill up Hinkle Fieldhouse for a men’s basketball games, they would appreciate it.

I want students to mob  games like they do going to the bars or parties on the weekend.

With the home stretch of the spring season approaching, everyone should make an effort to attend at least one game.

If you’re just not a fan of spring sports, the football team’s spring game is on Saturday and men’s and women’s soccer is in action for their spring exhibition games as well.

There are plenty of opportunities for students to come out and show their support.

When the fire alarm went off in the basement of Jordan Hall on March 15, Kevin Weingartner couldn’t scurry up the stairs with the rest of his Butler University classmates who smirked at the buzzing drone, and were thankful to leave class a few minutes early.

For Weingartner, a junior accounting major, getting up the stairs is not that simple.

Weingartner was born with spina bifida, a birth condition where a person’s backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. He has been in a wheelchair since early childhood and relies heavily on the Jordan Hall elevator to get to his classes on time.

As the stairways clogged with students, Weingartner waited alone in front of the Jordan Hall elevator, which takes nearly a minute and a half to get from the basement to the first floor of Jordan Hall.

“Since it’s a fire alarm, we’re not even supposed to use the elevators,” Weingartner said.

But since he has to—and he’s not the only Butler student who does—the administration should make repairing the elevators a priority.

Weingartner said he’s used to waiting for campus elevators, which usually add anywhere from five to 10 minutes to his daily class commute.

Most times, Butler’s slow elevator speeds aren’t a huge inconvenience for Weingartner. But during a fire alarm, it gets a little scary waiting for the elevator to arrive.

The March 15 fire alarm turned out to be a non-starter, but if it had been a real emergency, it is scary to think about the extra risk for all wheelchair-bound students.

The slow speed of the Jordan elevator is not the only issue. Earlier in the academic year, the same Jordan elevator was inoperable off and on for several weeks.

And two weeks ago, the Gallahue Hall elevator was broken.

But Weingartner will not see this problem solved during his time at Butler.

“The Jordan Hall elevators work fine,” said Gerald Carlson, Butler’s director of maintenance services. “The middle one is slow, but it works.”

Carlson said repairing the Jordan Hall elevators isn’t a top priority because there are other needs that currently trump it, including the Gallahue Hall elevator, which would be first on the list if funding was approved for elevator repairs.

Since repairs don’t look promising in the long run, maybe the next step should be to increase handicapped accessibility. Administrators, take note.

Finding the right study space

There are places all around campus that have yet to be completely discovered by many students, making them the perfect study locations on campus.

Photo by Rachel Anderson

While walking from Starbucks to Jordan Hall, it might seem like there is a greenhouse on the third floor of Jordan.  That is actually a study lounge in the political science department, open for all students.

This study lounge in JH339 is equipped with five to six tables, a few soft chairs, vending machines and a microwave.

The glass, greenhouse-like ceiling gives a view of Atherton Union and Schwitzer Hall.

For any students who are foreign language majors or minors, the Modern Language Center is an appropriate place for quiet study time or some collaboration work between groups for foreign language classes.

There are tables and soft spaces in the center, and plenty of resources to help with the study process.

The Pharmacy and Health Sciences Building is loaded with study spaces.

There are hidden soft spaces off of the main hallways, and many tables and chairs can be found between whiteboards in the new part of the building.  These secluded  spaces keep students out of the line of passersby.

There are also a few small rooms, like PB305, that are furnished with a computer, a table and a few soft chairs.

In the basement of the Pharmacy and Health Sciences Building is the student lounge, which is designated as a quiet area.

There are white boards, tables and chairs, as well as section dividers to keep students separated and eliminate distractions.

Like JH339, there are vending machines and microwaves located in the student lounge for those late-night study sessions that may require a quick pick-me-up.

When it may seem like all the good study spaces have been taken over by what seems like the entire student population, keep an eye out for that jewel of a spot in the most secluded area of a building.

Stressing less

Peers Advocating Wellness for Students (PAWS), the Department of Recreation and the Learning Resource Center have coordinated activities and events for Stress Less Week, which is going on this week.

“The goal [of Stress Less Week] is to expose students to opportunities to reduce stress, like healthy eating, physical activity, puppies and yoga,” said Sarah Barnes-Diaz, health education and outreach programs coordinator.

Barnes-Diaz also said these activities are accessible on campus.

It is important to find something that works for you and makes you feel good and then find it on campus.  Stress Less Week is all about giving students healthy stress management options.

Barnes-Diaz said the activities and events that seem the most popular every year are Playtime with Puppies and chair massages.

Chair massages are being held today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.  Playtime with Puppies is on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

On Thursday evening, there will be paper on the tables in Atherton Union for students to “doodle at dinner,” then later that night at the Health and Recreation Complex, there will be a candlelight swim from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Classrooms in Jordan Hall are used extensively for both personal and group studying after hours, but most classroom doors are locked on Friday night and not unlocked until Monday morning, making finding space to study difficult for the weekend scholar and student.

Sophomore economics and management information systems major Brooke Robinson said she encountered this problem last weekend.

“My business group and I needed a place to practice our PowerPoint presentation, but the only rooms unlocked in Jordan were occupied,” she said. “This was very stressful to me. That presentation is a big deal. My group and I will be giving it to a funding board made up of Butler staff to ask for money to start a business.”

Robinson said she called the Butler University Police Department to see if an officer could unlock a door for her study group but was told it was against policy to unlock an unreserved room.

To reserve classrooms for social events, meetings or group studying, the office of conferences and special events requires a blue form to be filled out with the proper signatures.

In the case of classrooms in Jordan Hall on Sunday evening, it’s first-come, first-served.

“We do not allow mediated classrooms to remain unlocked at night when not in use due to past incidents of theft,” Hunter said in an email.

“Our procedure on mediated classrooms only deviates during finals to allow for additional study space.”

Hunter said his staff does not routinely unlock classrooms because keys are issued to faculty and staff based on what division they work in within the university.

“Typically during the business hours of the university, classrooms remain unlocked for various uses,” Hunter said.

Each evening janitorial staff lock all classroom doors after cleaning the rooms.

During weekends, unlocked rooms are harder to find.

Hunter said he is happy to make special arrangements and acknowledged that sometimes mistakes happen but said he tries to respect students.

“If we are locking doors and someone is studying, we will come back later to lock that classroom,” he said. “We try to honor that if it’s a combination of an outside event or a study group.”

The danger of classrooms being unlocked overnight appears to be their increased susceptibility to theft, despite more accessibility for students.

“We make special arrangements, but our procedures have been the same,” Hunter said. “If a classroom is empty, we lock it. We don’t want anything to get stolen.”