Aribah Tahir, psychology and biochemistry senior, Nasiha Khan, biology senior and Zaniya Medlin, biology and chemistry junior, discuss Bolin renovations with SGA President and political science senior Zetta Cannedy, Oct. 17. (George Svoboda)

Biology and chemistry junior Zaniya Medlin and psychology and biochemistry senior Aribah Tahir announced their concerns about the upcoming renovations to Bolin Hall at Oct. 17’s SGA meeting. 

Bolin Hall was constructed in the 1960s and has since been updated once in 1997. The Hall’s renovations will start in December.

While Medlin and Tahir said they appreciate the renovations, they said they are concerned about the consequences. 

In order to renovate the building, some research will be paused or stopped entirely. 

“A good chunk of the lab equipment was not going to be able to be used whatsoever for the last years I’m going to be here,” Medlin said.

The renovations are going to limit use of the cold room, a vital part of research. There are projects researching Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease that require the cold climate to keep the proteins students are working on from breaking down.

Current plans include seeing what projects can be continued with limited use of the cold room and refrigerators. 

There are laboratories available in D.L. Ligon Coliseum that students could use throughout renovations.

“The solution they’ve come up with for most of our research is that there’s this room in the Coliseum, and it can fit most of us as long as we kind of stagger our times,” Medlin said.

Research is critical for MSU students to compete with students from other universities when applying for jobs and graduate school. Some research will move online, which will mostly entail data entry. 

“I think it limits the competitiveness of MSU in general as well because Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s research, there are a lot of people doing that. And for you to take us back and entire year, to take back a whole year of research puts us behind the curve,” Medlin said. 

Another concern the pair shares is that some class labs will be moved online. Many graduate programs require labs to be taken in person so the students are properly prepared. MSU students now risk appearing less competitive compared to their peers. The exclusion of in-person labs potentially limits the amount of universities, programs and jobs MSU students can apply for. 

Tahir said one area that will be hit hard with online moves is microbiology, which could affect students’ applications.

“So to apply to PA schools, and a lot of them in Texas, they require labs and especially micro bio,” Tahir said.

Junior and senior students are most affected by this, as they may not have the time to make up for their missing in-person lab hours.

Interim Dean Sarah Cobb said that microbiology is a lab that requires a specialized space and will not be able to be held in-person. 

“Right now, my understanding is that it will probably be online for both Spring and Fall of 2024. Again, once that half of the building opens, we have that space back,” Cobb said.

Tahir is applying for the chemistry department’s Welch scholarship, which stipulates research. According to Tahir, one of the primary draws of the scholarship is the ability to get hands-on experience in the field, and to be published under a professor. 

“What administration has stated is that they would like that research to continue online. So like data entry, if possible, is something that they want, like, faculty and students working on for the next two years,” Tahir said. 

One of Tahir’s concerns is that new professors may be unable to begin a research project and will not have data to enter that will fulfill their job requirements.

Professors will be moved from Bolin Hall to Pierce Hall in November.

Medlin and Tahir’s primary dilemma about the handling of Bolin’s renovation is the lack of communication between MSU and faculty and students. They each say that any update they heard about came from other students. 

“The students have not been informed whatsoever about it,” Medlin said. 

Students have been uninformed about the renovation plans and problems in Bolin. To combat this, Tahir suggested an open forum where students could express their concerns. According to Tahir, Interim Dean Sarah Cobb has said that there will be an open forum with Interim Provost Margaret Brown Marsden and Kyle Owen from facility services. However, Tahir and Medlin said they had not heard about a date being set for a forum.

“Students don’t know what to ask for because they don’t know what’s going on. So like, they’re like, well you can have the information about the asbestos if you care if you ask Dr. Cobb for instance, but how would we know to ask about that?” Medlin said. 

Medlin and Tahir are supportive of the renovation, but they said they are concerned about the consequences.

“We don’t hate the renovation. We’re really excited for new science building stuff, new stuff, like you know, updated fire safety,” Medlin said, “We’re not probably gonna be here once it’s finished. We just want our last two years, and like also the incoming people, we want them to be properly informed about what’s going on, because it does affect our education,” she added. 

Bolin’s renovations are set to begin during winter break.

Editor’s note: This article was updated Wednesday, Nov. 8, to address factual inaccuracies. More information regarding the Bolin renovations will be published soon.