One professor fainted in class due to the lack of ventilation. Disabled students could never reach the third floor, which has no elevator. Mold sprouted in old carpet after the roof started to leak. Students had to watch their heads because of the occasional falling ceiling tile. The building sweltered in the summer and froze in the winter, making it a horror to teach in, according to some professors.
Students and faculty have complained that Oscar Ritchie Hall, built in 1949, is in dire need of an update.
How the “house that Black United Students built” became the dilapidated ghetto of campus is no mystery to professors and students in the department.
One word: neglect.
And some think the neglect is directly linked to prejudice.
Despite Kent State’s commitment-to-diversity mantra, it was not until Black United Students held a protest in spring 2004 that the building got moved up on the renovations schedule, according to Mwatabu Okantah, an assistant professor of Pan-African Studies. The university poured $200,000 of renovations into the building. New air conditioners, shelving, new carpeting, new ceiling tiles and improved air ducts were installed.
Protesting had paid off. And now, Oscar Ritchie Hall is slated for a $9 million facelift in 2007 — one that many say is long overdue. The project will essentially gut the interior of the building and reshape it into a state-of-the-art facility for Pan-African Studies — a plan that has been on the drawing board for years.
One thing that differentiates Oscar Ritchie from other buildings is that not only is it an academic building, but it also houses a black culture center, an African-American community theater, an art gallery, a computer lab, the campus publication Uhuru, the National Association for Black Journalists and several other local civil rights organizations.
Because the building has so many historic features, the renovation plan both frightens and excites professors and students. Some are worried that the historical integrity of the building will be threatened, despite the assurance of the administration that the historically rich murals and other artifacts from the Civil Rights era will be left intact. Does this mean Oscar Ritchie Hall’s struggles are over? Not quite.
The Burr is produced by students at Kent State University twice per academic year.No part of The Burr may be reprinted without permission.