Mud-caked classroom floors, stacks of unused chairs, mold-covered banisters — these are a few things one might find when visiting the Old Forestry Building, located off South Stadium Drive.
And while the 55-year-old facility has passed safety inspection, students and professors say it’s time for an overhaul.
The Old Forestry Building is officially home to the College of Agriculture and University Auxiliary Services but houses other degree programs such as Human Resource and Leadership Development.
The building passed the fire marshal inspection in 2009 with no major citations listed, according to Emmett David, director of facility development at the Office of Facility Services.
David said despite complaints, no scheduled renovations are in sight.
HRLD students Kolby Lirette and Robert Bostick visit the building frequently for classes and to meet with professors and advisers. Both are disgusted by the conditions.
“Every time I come here, I cross my fingers to hope that I make it out alive,” Lirette joked as he guided a group of Daily Reveille employees through the building last week.
As he walked, he pointed out poor conditions along the way. The banisters in the stairwell have an unidentified white mold growing on them, and a combination of stringy spider webs and stalactite-like structures hang from the tile-less ceiling.
On the second story the floor is covered in dust, and several rooms appear to be used for storage. The doors in the hallway are left open, revealing mud and dirt on the floors, piles of chairs, old teaching supplies covered with a mysterious substance and sarcastic comments written on the chalkboards, like “This place is GREAT!!!”
“This is all opened at night,” Lirette said. “I just wonder how many people wander into this room to study. It’s crazy.”
Bostick said conditions in the classrooms are poor as well.
“People don’t put their backpacks on the floor,” Bostick said. “I have a black backpack, and when it comes up it’s totally dusty every time I put it on the floor of the classroom.”
Lirette and Bostick also said professors’ offices have mold growing on the blinds and hoses running water from air-conditioning units into containers.
The duo said they believe their professors deserve better conditions.
“We have great professors,” Bostick said. “It’s a good program.”
Ali Hale, an HRLD senior, said it is difficult to learn in the run-down building.
“I could not believe the University would allow a building in this condition to exist on campus,” Hale said. “I am especially frustrated that the University expects students to fully concentrate when ceiling tiles look like they are about to fall and the staircase seems to be on its last leg.”
Lirette said he is proud of his major but feels the University’s lack of attention to the building shows where its priorities lie.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily distracting to my learning, but it’s more about the way it makes me feel about my degree program and the University,” he said. “You literally see stalactites, and then you see the new [Business Education Complex].”
Michael Burnett, director of the School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development, said he recognizes the problems in the building but sees advantages as well.
“Yeah, it’s got problems. Yeah, we would like the University to invest a lot more money into it,” Burnett said. “But I guess I would rather us be in this facility and be all together as a school than be scattered all around the University.”
Burnett said the building has suffered problems in several upstairs classrooms due to roof leaks over the past few years. Since then the University has invested a substantial amount of money to repair the roof, and all problems with the roof have been resolved, Burnett said.
He said the school plans to restore those rooms when funds are available.
 
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Contact Laura Furr at [email protected]