Board of Trustees to meet today

Plans to replace Morrill Hall and expand MSU’s plant science program are among the discussion topics at today’s MSU Board of Trustees meeting. Also on the board’s agenda is a proposal to increase parking space in Lot 89. The meeting, held at 9:30 a.m., is the board’s first of the fall semester.

Morrill Hall Replacement

Home to MSU’s English and history departments, Morrill Hall opened more than 100 years ago. Concerned with its structural integrity, the board will decide whether to begin planning the building’s replacement.

The proposal, with a preliminary $36 million budget, would include the demolition of the hall and relocation of employees to offices already built or the construction of a new hall in an undetermined location on campus.

“I think most people are resigned to the fact that it’s going to be replaced,” said Stephen Arch, the English department chairperson. “I think we’re sad but we realize it’s going to happen.”

Plant Science Improvement

The board also will vote on approving the go-ahead to start a multi-faceted expansion of the university’s plant science program. The projected $40 million enhancement would include renovation of current facilities and the addition of a new facility that meets the standards of research laboratories at other universities.

With more grant money being given to the plant science programs, plant biology chairperson Richard Triemer said new facilities are a must to provide students with up-to-date labs.

“You can go (to other universities) and there’s these beautiful new glassy labs and shiny lab benches and you walk in here and we have 50-year-old labs,” Triemer said. “It doesn’t quite cut it.”

Parking Lot 89 Expansion

As part of the university’s goal to increase space on campus for educational facilities, a proposal to expand Lot 89 will be voted on by the board. Lot 89, the commuter lot, is near Farm Lane and Mount Hope Road.

“A lot of very strategically located land that could serve the educational mission is in the center of campus covered with asphalt and yellow paint,” MSU police Assistant Chief Mike Rice said.

The projected cost of the expansion is $5 million. The plan is supposed to answer the demand for low-priced parking rates.

“One of the tenants of the Campus Master Plan is to continue to move parking to the perimeter and to emphasize the use of mass transit,” Rice said. “This is a continued step in that direction.”