2008 Woodie Awards
It's getting hot in here
Board may spend $7.5 million on new cooling system
By: Peter Wright, News Editor
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: News
An emergency measure on the agenda for this week's Board of Trustees meeting has sparked unrest among some Macalester students about their role in the school's decision making. The measure would allocate $7.5 million to be spent on a new air conditioning system, but members of the Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society, or MacCARES, are questioning the transparency of the process.
Vice President for Administration and Finance David Wheaton said the measure to replace the cooling system has happened faster than expected because the current system does not have the capacity to handle increased demands from the Leonard Center and the projected needs of the new arts complex.
"In this case," Wheaton said, "we had a study that was done late last winter into early spring that gave us a different result than we had expected."
Sustainability Manager Suzanne Hansen said she learned about the plans to replace the system at the same time as MacCARES members-about two weeks ago. Although she was careful not to be overly critical of the new system or Facilities Management, who spearheaded the search for the new system, she did say that she would have supported more research if there had been more time.
"It doesn't give us the time to do an analysis on what the best possibilities from an environmental point of view and from a financial point of view are," she said.
Wheaton, who approved the financial aspects of the project, said the process to replace the system happened quickly simply because of the immediate need to relieve the stress on the school's current system. He said that it probably seemed like short notice to students because much of the research was done over the summer.
Macalester's current cooling system is buried just north of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. Speaking to a group of students on Wednesday, Director of Facilities Mark Dickinson said the current system uses ice-frozen at night-to cool air that is then distributed throughout the air-conditioned buildings on campus.
Vice President for Administration and Finance David Wheaton said the measure to replace the cooling system has happened faster than expected because the current system does not have the capacity to handle increased demands from the Leonard Center and the projected needs of the new arts complex.
"In this case," Wheaton said, "we had a study that was done late last winter into early spring that gave us a different result than we had expected."
Sustainability Manager Suzanne Hansen said she learned about the plans to replace the system at the same time as MacCARES members-about two weeks ago. Although she was careful not to be overly critical of the new system or Facilities Management, who spearheaded the search for the new system, she did say that she would have supported more research if there had been more time.
"It doesn't give us the time to do an analysis on what the best possibilities from an environmental point of view and from a financial point of view are," she said.
Wheaton, who approved the financial aspects of the project, said the process to replace the system happened quickly simply because of the immediate need to relieve the stress on the school's current system. He said that it probably seemed like short notice to students because much of the research was done over the summer.
Macalester's current cooling system is buried just north of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. Speaking to a group of students on Wednesday, Director of Facilities Mark Dickinson said the current system uses ice-frozen at night-to cool air that is then distributed throughout the air-conditioned buildings on campus.
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