The University of Maine System’s Board of Trustees will review the north campus improvement plan, including the plan to demolish UMaine’s oldest building, following public outcry.
The board’s Finance, Facilities and Technology Committee will review the north campus improvement plan at its Dec. 17 meeting and the full board will likely take final action at its Jan. 26 meeting, spokesperson Samantha Warren said.
Crossland Hall is planned for demolition because of $10 million in deferred maintenance costs, a long-term modernization plan and a need for more parking space. The demolition was slated for next year, but construction won’t occur until after the board approves a plan that would put 200 parking spaces in the place of the 192-year-old building, Warren said.
The decision to bring the plan to the Board of Trustees comes after UMaine students spoke against the hall’s demolition on campus and at an Orono Town Council meeting earlier this month. At that meeting, students called on the Council to reclaim the building and land because it was originally deeded from Orono to the university.
The parking spaces are needed because the multiyear expansion of UMaine’s athletic facilities has reduced the number of available parking spots on campus, officials said.
The demolition did not have to go to the board for review because it is under the $500,000 threshold that requires approval, but “consistent with our commitment to public transparency and in recognition that Crossland’s removal is part of a comprehensive initiative to improve accessibility, safety and parking at the north entrance to campus, the university will send the full project to the Trustees,” Warren said.
Crossland is one of more than 300 UMaine buildings with deferred maintenance, adding up to $1.1 billion in maintenance.
UMaine’s student newspaper, The Maine Campus, first reported on the demolition.
Students said the hall should be a historically registered building while speaking at the Orono Council meeting, but it has been altered too many times to qualify for historic status, Warren said.
Pushing the demolition date back and giving an opportunity for students to speak at the meetings is “a good start” to keeping the building on campus, said Alex Emery, a senior at UMaine and president of the Franco-American Resource Opportunity Program. The Franco-American Centre is housed in Crossland Hall.
Emery is one of dozens of students who attended the Orono Council meeting and has been working to stop Crossland’s demolition.
Students want to speak at the December and January meetings and are submitting legislation into undergraduate and graduate student governments to share why the hall should stay.
“We’d just love a public forum where members of the community and members of the administration can sit down. We can have a nice, civil dialog, because we think that what we’re doing is really for the betterment of the campus,” Emery said.
There’s “no better gift” Emery said he could leave for future UMaine students than a piece of its own history, which Crossland embodies.
The building was picked for removal in 2008 due to its “advanced age, susceptibility to flooding, rot and pest infestations, and limited accessibility,” Warren said. The plan to demolish the hall has been in place for years and has included meetings with staff and faculty of the Franco-American Centre since last spring.
The Centre will move out of Crossland this winter break, before the Board’s meeting and likely decision in January. They will first be housed in Libby Hall, where the university will spend $50,000 renovating a space for the program. Within the next two years, the Centre will move again to the Environmental Science Laboratory, which will undergo a $500,000 renovation.
Although some students and Franco-American Centre members want the hall to stay on campus, the Centre’s move to a new hall will improve accessibility, give its members an updated space and meet the Centre’s needs, Warren said.
“We appreciate the strong sense of attachment that many have to Crossland — despite its deteriorated condition — and to the Franco‑American Centre. The university remains deeply committed to the Centre and its relocation is intended to preserve and further promote Maine’s rich Franco-American heritage and lived experiences, while responsibly stewarding our resources to maintain region-leading tuition affordability,” Warren said.
