The Arts & Sciences Building on GCSU’s main campus was constructed in 1995, and 25 years later, there are some concerns that the building is in need of maintenance and updates. The three-story, 124,000-square-foot structure houses a variety of freshman and introductory classes, in addition to higher-level math, history and English courses. While the building is structurally sound, many students and professors believe the classrooms need updates to be used most effectively. 

Chris Clark, an economics professor at GCSU, has encountered several issues while teaching in the building, including old, broken items lying about in classrooms, rolling chairs that are not conducive to quantitative studies and a lack of trash cans in classrooms.  

“I’ve been asked to teach in several classrooms with rolling chairs,” Clark said. “Typically, when I come into those classrooms the chairs are all pushed together in one corner, so we spend the first five minutes of class actually making room for people to sit down in chairs, which is not great for learning.” 

In addition to the rolling chairs, Clark recalled a lectern full of trash, a whiteboard set up directly next to the door that students consistently tripped over, one classroom with an endless buzzing noise, an entire box of stolen chalk and one instance where Presidential Scholarship Candidates were led into a room with a broken metal lectern in pieces on the desk.  

“Imagine you’re a freshman, it’s your very first day of class, you walk in and there’s a bunch of broken stuff in the rooms lying around,” Clark said. “What are you going to tell your parents the first night?”  

Some students have also noticed a general lack of organization and modern furnishings in the building, as it is used for a variety of purposes and classes.  

“Overall, it’s nice, I’m very thankful to have a building to study in, but it massively needs some updates,” said Jordyn Waller, a senior marketing major. “The classrooms are just uncomfortably too small, and the chalkboards need to go, especially when you have an SI session in there and you have to use the chalkboard instead of a whiteboard.”  

While the building features a courtyard, students hardly use the space as it’s situated in the dark, shaded center of the building, with little sunlight, greenspaces or color in general. Clark mentioned that murals or other artwork could brighten up the space if added. 

“It’s an arts building, why not paint something on it?” Clark said. 

Janelle Blackstock, a sophomore management information systems major, noted that while the building is architecturally sound, it doesn’t offer students anything more than classroom space. 

“It’s just fine, I go there, I go to class, and I leave,” Blackstock said. 

With the newly constructed music building and plans to renovate Herty Hall in the coming years, the Arts & Sciences Building may not need a complete renovation, but simple changes in furnishings, maintenance and organization could make a vast difference. 

“I just think it needs some character to it, there’s so much going on in that building and it’s not really organized,” Waller said. “Some classes are math, some are sciences, I had management class in there, and it’s just very unorganized.” 

The building currently features 44 regular classrooms, three electronic classrooms and a GSAMS Distance Learning Center, in addition to faculty offices and an auditorium. With such space and technology, the building has a lot of potential and with simple updates can be more conducive to student learning and success.  

“I think very rudimentary things could be changed that cost almost nothing, like trashcans,” Clark said. “I do think that the building is a bit run down, and some renovation does need to happen.”