On Monday, March 16 Memorial Auditorium closed to begin renovations. The decision was made last fall shortly after the semester had started.
“It is a fully fundraised project, so there are no campus or tuition dollars being used for this project.” Dallas Fossum, director of Facilities Management, said. Fossum says with the help of alumni and other businesses, they were able to make these renovations possible.
The renovations include a combination of both music and athletic upgrades. For music, there will be some new choir risers, as well as some new sound shells. There will also be a new public address system (PA), which will be utilized for graduation and games.
Memorial will also get new basketball floors on both sides and video scoreboards. They also are painting the ceiling and providing new lighting. Finally, they will upgrade the first few rows of chairs. Fossum said “it will be an upgraded cushion type stadium seating that will be more comfortable.”
There has been concern amongst the student body as to what graduation will look like with Memorial Auditorium closed, as the ceremony often takes place there, and has since 1952. Fossum shared that they will be working on less disruptive work first, and opening Memorial back up for graduation. Facilities will shut it down again once graduation is over and continue the work over the summer.
They plan for renovations to conclude on August 15.
What about the pool?
Concordia’s swimming pool may be going away to be repolaced with a weight room.
Fossum said “If we’re able to fundraise for this type of project, the pool would go away, and it would become a weight and training room for athletes.”
Fossum shared many reasons as to why this is a potential project. Due to the size and number of student athletes that are at Concordia College, the current weight rooms are too small to accommodate the number of students with different class schedules. A new weight room would be beneficial for student athletes, as well as non-student athletes. “It can help with the pressure of the workout balcony, with how busy that is,” Fossum said, “that way non-student athletes can use the balcony with more ease.”
Beck Benson, a lifeguard at the pool, expressed concern about the pool closing. “I am just frustrated. It’s used by the student body, faculty, alumni, and the public frequently. It would be frustrating to lose that” Benson said.
After conversation with Fossum, it became clear that facilities are working to make a change that does not have a negative impact, working hard to make sure that everyone benefits from this, and not just those who would benefit from the weight room. “We have some options that our athletic director is working on, but our swim team would not go away,” Fossum said. “Inside of that, we would look at some enhancements for the swim team too.” Fossum did not mention what those enhancements would be.
Benson also expressed concern about the sauna club. “We have three different days that sauna club exists, and they’re packed each day,” Benson said. “They sardine in that thing; people really love it.”
Fossum shared that they are still working out all the details of the pool closing and there will be more information to come if the project is determined feasible financially.
