On Oct. 22, Larry Raab, director of campus spacing and planning management, sat down with The Panther to provide more insight into the closing of the E.B. Evans Animal Industries Building.
The building came into some controversy after it was closed earlier in the year by the administration. Since then, students in the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences have been dispersed to study in other locations and have expressed their displeasure with the decision.
The E.B. Evans Building was built in 1952. According to Raab, the building was closed because of maintenance problems and the ability to make a vital investment in the future of the university. This investment can be clearly seen in the 52,000 square foot building acquired by the university for $8.9 million.
“What I want agriculture students to realize is that this is not a stop sign,” said Raab. “This is a detour.”
The E.B. Evans building is not in danger of being demolished, as of now. The reason why it was taken off-line is because of the academic space standards of the state of Texas.
This standard calls for the space to match the amount of students an institution houses (106 square feet per student).
With this in mind, the Austin Greaux Chemical Engineering Building and the Graduate Northwest Campus Building along with Evans were taken off-line.
“We needed to show the state that we know how to play by the rules,” said Raab. “In order to do that, we had to make some tough decisions.”
Fortunately, the policy also states that if property is not being used or if property is being repaired then it does not count toward an institution’s total space formula.
“Right now, we are planning to keep the building off-line for repairs for one year to 18 months,” said Raab.
As for the new facility in northwest Harris County, Raab said, “This building is a great marketing opportunity for PVAMU and it will provide for the growth we need to open up those buildings we now have off-line.”
The facility’s close proximity to Houston and its position in the middle of around 100,000 students from the Cypress high schools provided an opportunity to move Prairie View deeper into the future.
The early prospect is that the building will be used for graduate programs and continuing education, but the university hasn’t ruled out providing core courses either.
“I’m happy that the agriculture students spoke up because this is the time to do it,” said Raab. “Dean Richards has been commissioned to put together a vision for how the College of Agriculture should look in the next 10 years. It might be more economical to build a new building then continue to repair the old one, but that’s what Dean Richards is going to tell us.”
Sometime next month the university will begin putting together its campus master plan. This plan will include every college on campus and provide information for how the institution should look in 2020. The colleges have nine months to devise the plan.