West Hall and a number of other buildings on campus received renovations this summer, but some touch-ups were put on hold for various reasons.
Last semester, Vice President of Operations John Roberto told the Daily that West Hall's bathrooms were set for overhauls, but only one bathroom in the basement, a women's room, was renovated over the summer. The building has eight bathrooms.
Director of Construction Management Mitch Bodnarchuk said renovating the bathrooms would have legally forced Tufts to bring them up to date with handicap accessibility standards, something the university was hesitant to do.
"What happens here with the amount of work that would need to have been done to do the bathroom renovations, you kind of run into code implications that talk about accessibility," Bodnarchuk said, adding that West Hall's historical appearance led to reluctance to put an elevator in the building.
Bodnarchuk did say that there continues to be a desire to redo the rest of the bathrooms and make them accessible, like the new one.
Common areas and dorm rooms received new paint jobs in West, and wood floors were refinished.
This may not appease some disconcerted students living in the all-sophomore dormitory this year, though.
"I thought all the bathrooms were being done," Bianca Velayo, a sophomore, told the Daily.
Velayo does not use the shabbier bathroom closest to her. "I go downstairs to shower," she said referring to the renovated bathroom. "It's gorgeous down there."
Velayo said that there is a general dissatisfaction among West residents about their bathrooms. She also said West could use foosball and billiards tables, perks in many other dorms.
Ryan Orendorff, a sophomore and West Hall resident advisor, said he felt less inconvenienced by the lack of renovations.
"The bathrooms look pretty good except for the fact they don't have shower curtains," he said.
Orendorff moved into to his dorm room on August 17, while some minor renovations were still being completed, but everything was done within a few days of his arrival.
"They did a fantastic job in terms of what I can see from the renovations," he said.
According to Orendorff, West Hall was lacking a working stove and oven until recently, but the new paint and carpet, as well as the wide-screen television in the lounge, all make West a comfortable dorm, he said.
According to Bodnarchuk, the significant amount of construction completed over the summer and continuing into the academic year is the norm.
"Having projects that are so visible on the main campus probably is a thing that seems to be either disruptive or, ‘Wow, what's going on?' " he said.
Since Commencement in the spring, eight major renovations were completed at Tufts.
The bathrooms in Metcalf Hall were completely overhauled, and two first-floor bathrooms in South Hall were updated for handicap accessibility.
"Eaton Hall was a major exterior renovation," Bodnarchuk said. "So that was totally cleaned and repaired." The new façade of the building "looks fabulous," he added.
"[In] Dowling Hall ... the garage lighting was converted over to LED lights," Bodnarchuk said. "Number one, it saves on energy which is a really important aspect because of how long those lights are on."
Lane Hall's auditorium, which was in "pretty sad shape" prior to the summer, was divided into two smaller classrooms with audio-video capability, according to Bodnarchuk.
The Sawyer House at 120 Curtis Street was also renovated to be handicap accessible.
A part of Curtis Hall was renovated to accommodate the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, which now has its own separate entrance.
Yet not all of the projects begun during the summer were completed in time for the school year, including some that were supposed to be finished.
According to Roberto, the Tisch Library roof renovation was originally intended to be completed by the beginning of the fall semester. Bodnarchuk said it will hopefully be done by the end of this year.
Packard Hall is undergoing a complete renovation. Though no new space will be added to the building itself, there will be a small addition strictly for the inclusion of an elevator, according to Bodnarchuk.
The "total gut" renovation of Packard should be completed by June or July 2009.
