Eighteen million dollars and over two and a half years later,
the Glorya Kaufman Hall is now expected to be fully completed in
February.
Kaufman Hall, previously named the Dance Building, will house
the World Arts and Culture Department.
Kaufman Hall was expected to be ready for the start of the
winter quarter, and the registrar’s Web site had scheduled
WAC courses to take place in the new building.
Only the first floor of Kaufman was ready by the beginning of
the quarter, and as a result, many WAC courses were moved to the
Kinross Building in Westwood.
“Construction was originally planned to complete for a
fall 2004 occupancy. The schedule was impacted by unforeseen
existing conditions, including additional lead paint and asbestos
abatement and design modifications during construction,” said
Kathleen Fitzgerald, director of project management for UCLA
Capital Programs in an e-mail.
“With the exception of the garden theater addition, all
areas of the main building will be complete in January,” she
said.
Students enrolled in WAC classes that have been moved to Kinross
were not notified about the move until less than a week before the
quarter began.
“I was signed up to take (a) class in Kaufman this
quarter, but I received an e-mail a few days before classes began
saying that there were going to be room changes back to Kinross.
That was it for me,” said Anna Patton, a third-year WAC
student.
“I e-mailed my professor to see if I was going to be
affected by this, and when I did not hear from her in time, I just
dropped the class. I have a class right after the WAC class I had
scheduled and there was no way I could make it on time if I had to
trek all the way from Kinross,” she said.
Because of the inconvenience, a shuttle has been set up between
Kinross and the main UCLA campus.
Many WAC professors have been understanding of the time issue,
and realize that it may take longer than 10 minutes for students to
go from class to class.
“Two of my classes were moved to Kinross for the start of
the quarter, one of which … had attracted students from all over
campus. The weekend before classes began, I wrote students an
e-mail through MyUCLA explaining the situation and assuring them
that I would be flexible about late arrivals or early departures on
account of tight class schedules,” said David Gere, a WAC
professor. “To my surprise, the full contingent showed
up.”
For the past few years, WAC courses have been held in Kinross,
so most WAC students have become used to it.
“I’m used to it ruining my schedule. I usually have
to go back and forth during the day. … It doesn’t really
affect me anymore,” said Lauren Ziminsky, a fourth-year WAC
and economics student, and co-president of the WAC undergraduate
society.
“We really want to get in the new building. It’s
really nice. Kinross is just a temporary building ““
it’s really obvious in how it looks and how we feel about it.
… We’re excited to go back to Kaufman,” she said.
Professors have become used to the Kinross Building as well, and
do not see scheduling changes this quarter as a big surprise.
“We’ve been there for two and a half years,
it’s not a new building to us. A lot of our students
don’t know Kaufman at all,” said Dan Froot, a professor
in the WAC department. “The inconvenience is only having to
travel back and forth.”
In the meantime, students have been trying to make the most of
the situation and their last weeks in Kinross.
“I like being in Kinross anyway. There is better coffee
and food in the Village. It’s the truth … to that effect.
Of course it’s inconvenient just with parking, but in
general, we’re so used to being down there anyway, and
we’re WAC. We’re the most versatile department,”
said Jaynie Rabb, a student in the WAC doctoral program.
“We’re dancers. We’re flexible,” she
said.