Wey Hall saga

[T-Dog]

As you may have seen the last couple years, the front of Wey Hall has been under construction to modernize the building.

https://www.appstate.edu/appalachians-f ... /wey-hall/

However, art classes have continued.

Last Wednesday, the building was closed to students after discovering cracks in the ceiling tiles from falling debris.

https://theappalachianonline.com/breaki ... -concerns/

Borer walked into a classroom on the first floor of Wey Hall, the only floor still open for use during the renovation construction, when class members started to get up from their seats and move to another part of the room. Borer said she and her peers heard a thump in the ceiling and saw cracks forming on the ceiling tiles. When a faculty member inspected behind the tiles, they discovered a concrete core with jagged edges about the size of a roll of toilet paper, Borer said.

“It has been determined that during Spring Break, while contractors were drilling, concrete debris fell into the ceiling tiles, and the contractor failed to follow approved university safety protocols,” Campbell wrote.

The building was closed and now art students can't access their materials.

There was a protest last Friday by art students, saying their concerns have not be listened to.

https://theappalachianonline.com/studen ... -students/

Leah Moore, a senior art education major, said art students did try to voice complaints about the renovation in October 2023, when the Department of Art hosted a series of talks about the renovation.

Moore said the students who spoke at the meetings never received a response from the school.

One art student posted about their experience this academic year. Neers Barstool shared the TikTok to Twitter for those who don't use TikTok, which is shown below. I encourage you to watch.





What is this administration even doing? Are they asleep at the wheel? Between this, the tunnels, the 911 Center and the indoor practice facility delays, this is awful.

This isn't some "hur dur dur Everts bad" crap that some App alums have pedaled for a decade because of their own biases. This is App State students being unsafe in their primary building and not getting the quality of education they signed up for.

[moonshine]

According to this:

https://faa.appstate.edu/about/wey-hall-renovation

“The Wey Hall renovation project is the result of an extensive and collaborative planning process. This effort involved Academic Affairs leadership and staff; FAA leadership, including the Department of Art Wey Hall Executive Committee; App State's Facilities Management leadership and staff; and App State's construction partner, Muter Construction.”

Is Muter Construction still handling the project? Sounds like the students need to file complaints with OSHA if the environment is unsafe. I only found 1 OSHA violation dating back to June 2019 on Muter (see link) about failing to conduct regular inspections and exposing workers to falls of 10+ feet. This isn’t my field of expertise so anyone more knowledgeable please chime in.

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establis ... dyear=2024


Short of suspending art until the project was completed, I’m not sure what else could be done to ease the burden of progress. There was a lot of meetings between leadership groups, executive committees, staff and the construction partner who deemed this the best path forward.

It sucks the students cannot access their material and what it means for the remainder of the semester but I’m guessing once the 1st floor was condemned, liability won’t allow entry. If Muter has breached the contract, they should compensate all parties.

[Stonewall]

The company would have to be insured against such occurrences to qualify to bid.

[Tru2ASU]

Should've been closed entirely to begin with.

[MrCraig]

Watched the video, and I totally feel sympathy and think that this is a huge oversight by the administration and the construction crews. However, when she said something about not having A/C I couldn't help but chuckle. Sanford has never had A/C. Am I entitled to compensation from the roughly 43 English classes I had to take in that building?

[AppinVA]

I haven’t had time to watch, but if she’s complaining about slow elevators, then I get it. I got on it in 94 and may still be on the way to the third floor.

[fjblair]

This is on the construction company, not the school. No one was harmed and the situation remedied. More hyped up drama in the age of hyped up drama.

[Stonewall]

I haven’t had time to watch, but if she’s complaining about slow elevators, then I get it. I got on it in 94 and may still be on the way to the third floor.

Take the Stairs!

[mike87]

This is on the construction company, not the school. No one was harmed and the situation remedied. More hyped up drama in the age of hyped up drama.

What, drama in the Art Dept.? Say it ain't so

[AppinVA]

I haven’t had time to watch, but if she’s complaining about slow elevators, then I get it. I got on it in 94 and may still be on the way to the third floor.

Take the Stairs!

That’s a lot of stairs.

[Bootsy]

Watched the video, and I totally feel sympathy and think that this is a huge oversight by the administration and the construction crews. However, when she said something about not having A/C I couldn't help but chuckle. Sanford has never had A/C. Am I entitled to compensation from the roughly 43 English classes I had to take in that building?

Craig, hold up…I took a couple of classes in Sanford…are two of us enough to file a class action lawsuit?

[I really needed a laugh today, so thanks, man…your take was epic ]

[Rekdiver]

MEH …..$24 million improvement project and they screwed up the use. I’m sorry but the School made a mistake trying to accommodate everyone. It’s been addressed now. Get over it.

[beav910]

I had all my classes in Wey and I loved that place, but it was a dump. It was long overdue a renovation and honestly probably needs to be demolished. I get her frustration but I'm not really sure what the solution would be. You can't stop offering classes because the building is under construction since you have juniors and seniors trying to graduate on time, and you can't really kick anyone else out of another building either. It sounds like the options were to work in a condemned dorm room or a building that was in such rough shape it may has well been condemned. I mean, anyone who has taken the elevator in that building will tell you it was a death trap.

[Bootsy]

I had all my classes in Wey and I loved that place, but it was a dump. It was long overdue a renovation and honestly probably needs to be demolished. I get her frustration but I'm not really sure what the solution would be. You can't stop offering classes because the building is under construction since you have juniors and seniors trying to graduate on time, and you can't really kick anyone else out of another building either. It sounds like the options were to work in a condemned dorm room or a building that was in such rough shape it may has well been condemned. I mean, anyone who has taken the elevator in that building will tell you it was a death trap.

I guess you could move the whole program into a bunch of those old classroom trailers we used to have behind our elementary school.

Oh, wait…I just realized App doesn’t have any spare parking on campus. Forget I mentioned it.

[AppDub]

I haven’t had time to watch, but if she’s complaining about slow elevators, then I get it. I got on it in 94 and may still be on the way to the third floor.

Where do you think the mantra Go App, take the stairs came from?

[pop5app]

Which building is Wey? When I was in school Herb Wey was the Chancellor (President at the time). Was an existing building renamed in his honor?

[hapapp]

Which building is Wey? When I was in school Herb Wey was the Chancellor (President at the time). Was an existing building renamed in his honor?

It's on the back side of Newland.

[appdaze]

Welp WBTV picked it up


https://www.wbtv.com/2024/03/28/app-sta ... enovation/

[goapps]

https://www.wataugademocrat.com/opinion ... cfa4f.html