Renovations complete in Fraser Hall, Fraser Library fully operational

Fraser Library (pictured above) will serve the student community until the renovation of Milne Library is completed. Milne is anticipated to be finished with construction by 2025. (Photo editor/Kate Rodgers)

The remodeling of Fraser Library has been completed, and the space will now serve as the campus community while Milne Library is under construction. The Fraser Hall Library is now offering all of the services that the Milne previously offered. 

The library has been open since Dec. 18 with only necessary services, such as textbook loans but is now fully renovated and operational.  

According to the Geneseo website, Milne Library has been closed since February 2020 due to the presence of asbestos particles in the air. Though the levels of asbestos were deemed unharmful, the college plans to move forward with a $35 million renovation and remediation project to remove the asbestos. The project is expected to be completed in time for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Library Director Corey Ha said the Fraser Hall Library will offer research and writing assistance as well as a quiet study space and computer lab. The CIT HelpDesk is available to help students and staff with general computer questions and services such as printing and downloading academic software.  

"We really try to provide the same quality and level of services and resources [in Fraser Hall],” Ha said. “We try to do as much as we could given the limitations of the size and with everything else going on.”   

The Fraser Hall Library is also one of the several public study spaces that is now open around campus.  

On March 1, the Office of the President announced via a campus-wide email that some individual study spaces in academic buildings would be made available. On March 8, the office reported that larger study spaces in academic buildings would reopen, allowing students to study together in groups for the first time this semester.  

In the emails, the college said that the decision to reopen study spaces was motivated by the continual decrease in active COVID-19 cases on campus, input from students, and the commitment shown by Geneseo students to adhering to COVID-19 guidelines.  

The opening of public study rooms on campus is a welcome change in policy for many students.

“My dorm is just my bedroom, and I’ve never been good at doing things there because I get distracted or go on my phone. Going somewhere like the Union or the new library makes me focus because everyone around me is doing work too,” biology major freshman Kelly Heathscott said.

Facilities Services to resume cleaning suite bathrooms in residence halls

After confusion over whether or not suite bathrooms were going to continue being cleaned by janitorial staff, cleaning has resumed. (Photo Courtesy of Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash)

The janitorial services responsible for cleaning the suite bathrooms in the residence halls were suspended beginning the week of Feb. 21 but have since been restored. The college cited the rise in COVID-19 cases as the reason for the pause in services. 

Suite bathrooms are usually cleaned and restocked with supplies weekly. When Facilities Services made the decision to suspend cleaning, there was inconsistent communication from residence halls to their residents. 

According to Vice President of Finance and Administration Julie Buehler, changes to the College’s COVID-19 response made communication with Facilities Services difficult. The decision to briefly pause cleaning services to suite bathrooms was meant to be communicated to students. 

“We are in the middle of a pandemic and we have to have some flexibility, but our intention is to keep those bathrooms clean as we have been doing,” Buehler said. “There were some communication issues that happened. It's the old telephone game, it was one person tells another person, tells another person, tells another person … by the time the message got down, it was incorrect.”

Residents of Writers House in Seneca Hall received several emails alerting them of the change. The first email, forwarded from Facilities Services on Feb. 17 by Assistant Director of Residence Life for Housing Operations Saratoga Terrace Townhouses, Taylor Gale, indicated the suspension and made students aware of cleaning supplies that would be available at the service desk. All subsequent emails were from Area Coordinator Christopher Rivera until the final email on Feb. 18 that said bathrooms would be cleaned the following weekend.

In contrast, other residence halls received no communication from the administration and believed they would have to clean their own bathrooms for an undefined period of time. The miscommunication led to varying reactions from students. 

“I completely understand why there was a pause in bathroom cleaning considering the obstacles created by the pandemic,” Julia Brandow, communication major sophomore and resident of Ontario Hall, said. “I just would have appreciated if there was some type of communication on behalf of the administration.” 

Brandow said that she and her roommates were unsure who to contact about the situation. 

“I ended up reaching out to my RA, but never heard a response. Again, I really have no problem cleaning my own bathroom, especially considering the risk those who clean take entering our space during a health crisis … I just would have appreciated an email,” Brandow said.

Moving forward, Buehler spoke on behalf of the Geneseo administration saying that they are focused on providing a safe environment for students during the pandemic, as well as avoiding any further misunderstandings.