Due to the construction of the University Towers, many things have been moving around at Stevens. In The Stute‘s last issue of the Fall 2018 semester, there was a profile on the long history of Jacobus Hall. For the last 30 years, Jacobus has been the home of many student organizations on campus. In order to make room for the towers, Jacobus is being demolished.
In what was known as the “Jacobus Purge,” several RSOs had to clean out their offices inside the building. RSOs with office spaces were temporarily moved to the seventh floor of the Howe Center. The space was previously occupied by the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Disability Services. After the Alexander House renovations are complete, it will host the RSOs.
Located next to the North Building, the Student Wellness Center finally opened its doors on January 31, 2019, despite a two week delay. The center will house the Student Health Services, Counseling and Psychological Services, Disability Services, and Wellness Education all under one roof. The Pond House has been transformed into a “state-of-the-art facility and offer a comprehensive, coordinated and holistic approach to student wellness at Stevens,” according to an email sent out to the Stevens community by Marybeth Murphy, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. The center also has dedicated space for workshops, programs, and events to promote health and wellness education.
In the meantime, organizations that were meant to be moved into temporary locations until the completion of Alexander House were “homeless” for about two weeks, with no office space for holding meetings.
Alpha Phi Omega (APO) is a Greek organization that was affected by the Jacobus Purge. With regard to this situation, President of APO Luke Langner said, “Although it’s inconvenient to us and the student body as a whole, it’s a setting we have to work for in order to make our university better in the long run.”
Alexander House was scheduled to open on December 28, 2018. Unfortunately, renovations were delayed again. According to Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Sarah Klein, there were many unforeseen structural issues revealed by the renovations. The project is now expected to be completed in the summer of 2019. The SGA and Office of Undergraduate Student Life expect RSOs to be fully moved into Alexander House in time for the Fall 2019 semester.
As of Friday, February 1, the displaced student organizations have all been moved into temporary locations. WCPR is now located in the former Disability Center, and the Honor Board, the Student Government Association, The Link, and The Stute are in what used to be the CAPS office. Certain organizations have storage spaces on the seventh floor of Howe and in the basement of Humphreys.
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