Newcomb Hall, Tulane University’s primary center for liberal arts, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation. The renovation, which began in summer 2024, has left many staff and students waiting for the apparent never-ending remodel.
Brian Edwards, dean of the Tulane School of Liberal Arts, said the renovation will include upgraded classrooms, improved air systems and “enhanced features that will ensure the best overall learning and working experience.”
The renovation of Newcomb Hall, originally scheduled for completion by August, is now scheduled for completion in November.
Edwards said that after Tulane started renovations, “unforeseen complexities” emerged due to the historic building’s mechanical, electrical and plumping systems. The project’s scope was expanded to include more infrastructure upgrades.
“We understand the eagerness of students, faculty and staff for this project to be completed and their frustration over these unforeseen delays,” Edwards said. “But we ask for forbearance as we work to complete this project in the best manner possible.”
But until renovations are complete, instructors are left without their normal offices and classrooms.
Trevor Griffith, professor in the department of philosophy, said the construction is necessary, even if inconvenient. He said he hopes the renovations mean all faculty will have dedicated office spaces and nicer classrooms.
Relocations
After the building closed for renovations, one professor who taught in Newcomb and asked to remain anonymous said administration paid “very little attention” to where the professors would go.
The professor had to find a new office on their own, which left them running “back and forth across campus from the St. Charles area to Newcomb Hall multiple times a day and a week.”
To replace their offices, the administration gave some Newcomb faculty library carrells to work out of. Others tried to work from home, which came with its own challenges.
“The challenge with that is that you aren’t allowed to speak in the library, and my job involves talking to people,” the anonymous professor said. “This was particularly difficult for managing student meetings.”
Health concerns
While many faculty and staff have moved to other workspaces on campus, others are expected to continue working during construction.
“Administrators have to be in this building five days a week, full time, the dust gets really difficult,” the professor said. “There’s these noxious smells [and] the constant noise is just really hard.”
Edwards said Tulane has added air scrubbers, dust and noise containment systems and independent monitoring of the safety measures during construction.
“The safety of the Tulane community is our number one priority, we have implemented comprehensive health and safety measures throughout the construction period,” he said.
The anonymous professor said staff and faculty have been given little information about the construction, and some are concerned about hazardous materials given the age of the building.
“[We] have not been given information about what materials are in the building. That doesn’t mean that there is a problem, but it means that we don’t know,” the professor said.
Supporting staff and faculty
Another anonymous professor said they felt administration has “not in the least” provided adequate support for staff who used to work in Newcomb.
“I’m expected to work in my office despite the fact that construction noise and pollution make it literally impossible to work in there,” they said, adding that it felt unsafe to be in Newcomb.
The construction and lack of support “reveals that the university doesn’t care at all about faculty’s working conditions, that they imagine that we will just make do,” they said.
“Faculty wellbeing and work conditions matter just as much as students, and if Newcomb Hall is not a building that is appropriate for students to be in, then it is not appropriate for faculty to be in either,” they said.