Awnings
cause controvery
Placards
hang protesting money spent reviewing the
safety of awnings constructed without university
approval by faculty and students.
By
Jeff Overley
Daily Forty-Niner
Doug
Buis decided over the summer to build several
outdoor canopies to shield art students
from the natural elements.
According
to the Office of Physical Planning and Facilities
Management, he may have done just the opposite.
“Students
were welding out in the rain,” Buis
said. So he, along with a few of his summer
session students, built four awnings to
cover outdoor work areas. But rather than
problem solved, it was problem just begun.
Buis did not contact the Facilities Management
before constructing the rectangular, fiberglass-roofed
canopies, and formal plans and specifications
were never submitted.
“The
fact that the awnings are in place is not
the problem,” Sue Brown, director
of physical planning said. “The concern
we have is, ‘Were they put up safely?’”
Facilities
Management has since hired the CSU trustee
appointed engineer to conduct an inspection
of the shelters. Its report found that the
awnings were not up to par with the seismic
code, potentially endangering the very students
they were intended to protect.
“I
know that’s their surface complaint,”
Buis said. He suggested Facilities Management’s
issue was more a result of his circumvention
of its process. “We’ve had experience
with how much Facilities Management charges.”
Corrective recommendations will be determined
by the findings of a second opinion survey
currently being conducted by the CSU seismic
peer reviewer.
The
awnings, which cost “a few hundred
dollars” according to Buis, were paid
for with funds from the art department and
its sculpture budget.
Buis
said that the first study of the safety
of the awnings cost “about $700 or
$800,” harking back to his comment
on the expense of dealing with the office.
Brown would not comment on the price of
the review.
The
brouhaha over the sunshades seems to have
caused rumors to circulate claiming that
the awnings might be torn down altogether.
Art
students have erected placards in defense
of the awnings. “Don’t tear
me down — I protect students from
rain and sun,” says one sign speaking
as a canopy.
Brown
denied that the awnings might be removed,
saying that if anything, they will only
have to be modified.
Buis
has no regrets, but doesn’t plan on
escalating the matter any further, “We
actually improved on much more inferior
awnings,” he said. “If [the
office] wants us to improve [the new awnings],
I have no problem with that.”
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