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Students get rare look into SCSU's unknown
 Media Credit: Leslie Andres/News Editor Mitchell Hall residents walk through the tunnels between Garvey Commons and Sherburne Hall Thursday. Michael Hayman, director of residential life, took about 50 residents on a tour of Lawrence Hall and the tunnel system linking most of the buildings on campus.
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 Heidi Anderson
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One is below ground, warm from the steam pipes traversing it. The other is above ground, colder on the inside than the outdoor air on an unseasonably warm February afternoon. Together, they are SCSU's most secretive and most speculated about places.
Some residents of Mitchell Hall got a peek inside SCSU's tunnel system and Lawrence Hall on a Thursday tour. The tour was organized by two Mitchell RAs, Laura Grace and Heidi Anderson, and conducted by Michael Hayman, SCSU's Director of Residential Life.
"A few of my residents really wanted to see the tunnels and see Lawrence Hall and what it looked like, because they were really interested in it," Anderson, a junior, said. "So I told them I'd try and talk to Mike and see what he would do, and that's how it worked out."
Grace, also a junior, said part of the incentive for touring Lawrence Hall was that it won't be in its present, deserted state much longer. Renovation of the hall is scheduled to begin this summer.
Hayman greeted students in the lobby of Mitchell Hall, and they followed him into Mitchell's basement, where the group accessed the tunnel system. After turning a few corners, students found themselves in a square corridor with a low ceiling, fluorescent lighting and rows of pipes running along the walls. Hayman explained that the tunnels were once used by students, primarily to get from their residence halls to Garvey Commons. All of the residence halls, with the exception of Benton and Shoemaker, are connected to Garvey and each other via the tunnel system. Some academic buildings are also part of the system, including Kiehle and Stewart Halls.
Hayman said the tunnels were designed to be service and utility tunnels, without pedestrian use in mind. They were popular with students, however, until the fire marshal ordered them closed to the public in the mid-1980s, citing the lack of access points to the tunnels as a safety concern.
Hayman led students through select passageways to the basement of Garvey. Along the way, the group passed several murals, which provided a bright and colorful contrast to the otherwise gray concrete walls. Before the tunnels were closed, SCSU students had mural-painting contests in them from time to time. Some students on the tour paused at a passageway juncture, and had their picture taken in front of two arrows painted on the wall, labeled with the names of the buildings down each corresponding passage.
"I expected them to be like actual tunnels," said first-year student Ryan Meints, "because I heard that people used them to go to classes. They're just service tunnels though."
The second half of the tour was eagerly anticipated. Hayman and the group emerged from the tunnels in Sherburne Hall, and then walked over to Lawrence. Hayman unlocked the door and the group entered the mysterious building. In sharp contrast to the warm and sunny afternoon outside, the interior of Lawrence was musty and cold. Students' breath escaped in white, misty clouds as they explored the nooks and crannies on Lawrence's first floor.
The rooms were various sizes. Most were empty, although some contained odd pieces of furniture. Bathrooms complete with toilets and bathtubs looked surprisingly intact compared to the bareness of most rooms. Various trash, newspapers dating from the 1970s, files and boxes of papers were stuck haphazardly on shelves, or in piles on the floor. A few pop cans laying around sported logo designs more than decade old.
Hayman gathered students at the main staircase to give some background about the hall. Built in 1905, he said it is one of the oldest buildings on campus, and was closed as a residential hall about 1970. For several years, the building housed academic offices, but because SCSU put little money into updating it at the time, the fire marshal eventually closed it.
"It's still owned by the residence hall program, but it was closed back then. There just wasn't the need for the building in terms of occupancy," Hayman said.
When it was a residence hall, it housed 190 students. Hayman said after a year-long renovation with a price tag of about $5 million, Lawrence will house about 100 students on the top two floors and loft, and academic offices on the first floor and in the basement.
Hayman's mention that the future residence rooms in renovated Lawrence will have sinks, and possibly air conditioning, brought a swell of excited whispers from the tour group.
"It will be a pretty popular hall, we feel," Hayman said. The renovation is expected to be completed during the summer of 2003, with students moving in that fall.
"When you come back, whether you live here or if you come back and tour, remember what it was and what it looks like the summer of 2003 as we're completing it," Hayman said. "It's going to be a lot different."
Student reactions to Lawrence varied, but none were disappointed.
"That was super cool," said senior Karey Conrad. "It kind of reminded me of when I went to Ellis Island because it's a place where a lot of history happened at yet it's all in ruins. You can really feel the atmosphere of the place."
Jessica Anderson, also a senior, said, "I think it wasn't as I expected, I guess. I hear there's dead birds in here. I didn't see anything like that. I skipped class to come here, so I'm pretty glad that I did. It was worth my time, that's for sure."
"When I walked in, it didn't seem like a dorm at all," Meints said. "It seemed like a row of offices. When you look in the dorm rooms, they are very small. I don't think I'd ever like to live there, but after they renovate it sounds like it's going to be cool."
Heidi Anderson said she felt the tour was a great success. A lot more people showed up than she had first expected.
"I liked learning more about Lawrence I guess," she said. "I thought it would be a lot more run-down inside but it wasn't that bad, so it was really cool to go in there and just see everything."
Grace agreed that the tour went well. She said she was surprised to see the miscellaneous junk inside Lawrence, including the old pop cans. As for the rumors about Lawrence being full of dead birds and home to rats?
"I heard that too," Grace said, "but I actually saw only one dead bird, and no rats."
Eric O'Link can be reached at: [email protected]
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