Willis Hall closed down for good
By Kelly Contreras | Published by Oct. 2, 2018
This past summer, when the air conditioning system “totally failed,” Kean University finally said enough. Willis Hall was closed — for good — and now is used for storage.
According to President Dawood Farahi, in a welcome back speech earlier this month, said the air conditioning had finally broken down entirely, making it an unfit location to work and study for students and faculty alike. That ultimately led to school officials closing Willis Hall for good.
The University quickly assessed Willis Hall and concluded that repairing its deficiencies would be too costly.
Willis Hall provided several programs which have been relocated to buildings such as Hutchinson and others across campus.
Faculty members have been cooperative when relocating, such as Executive Director, Dr. James Drylie who has worked in Willis Hall since September of 2006.
He said that the university “… provided small floor fans” as a temporary solution. He also admitted that “… the inside temperature would reach up into the 90s and it made it uncomfortable. One of the annoying factors of it was just a constant drone of the fans.”
As a solution, Dr. Drylie and other staff members would typically come into work earlier than usual and work through their lunch periods and go home at around 3 p.m.
In order to beat the heat, it was beneficial for them to complete their work earlier in the day than to have to work in the uncomfortable environments.
Unfortunately, during the relocation process, there were about 24 hours where the building had an interruption of services without access to computers. However, the following day, it was resolved and the building resumed its services.
Another matter taken into consideration in regards to the change of location would be deciding what items are worth keeping,” Dr. Drylie commented.
“…whether it be one month or 12 years, you don’t realize how much you accumulate, what you no longer use or that you no longer need” he said.
Relocating is definitely a change, but a positive one at that, he said. For every building provides new perks for faculty members.
Even though the transfer of Willis Hall’s programs is not yet completed, Director of Media Relations, Margaret McCorry, explained that the plans are in motion:
“… University officials have been working to relocate faculty and staff who worked in that building. Once those relocations are complete, we will assess costs and logistics of how to move forward on Willis Hall. In the meantime, the building will be used for storage. The university is moving forward with plans to build a new College of Business and Public Management building on the former Merck property across Morris Avenue,” she said.
During his speech, Farahi joked that he believed “the reason Willis Hall actually failed is [because] it saw its competition,” referring to the scheduled new building on campus.
In his speech, President Farahi introduced Kean University’s latest project: a new building to house the College of Business and Public Management building, to be located on what was previously the Merck property, across the street from Kean’s main Union campus on Morris Avenue. It’s set to open September 2020.