BEMIDJI—Local legislators were joined by other members of the Minnesota House of Representatives on Wednesday for a tour of buildings on BSU’s campus, including one the institution hopes to demolish and replace with something better.
That building is the 82,000 square-foot, 47-year-old Hagg-Sauer Hall, which BSU officials are seeking $22.5 million from the Legislature to tear down and replace with a 27,000 square-foot academic learning center. In doing so, university leaders hope to eliminate a maintenance backlog of $9.3 million, with much of it related to water intrusion that’s led to damage.
During the tour, District 2A Rep. Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook and District 5A Rep. Matt Bliss, R-Pennington, along with members of the House Investment Committee, saw firsthand the level of water damage the building has sustained. Additionally, they were shown the building’s poor accommodation for students with disabilities and the lack of flexibility in the classrooms.
“I thought the tour went quite well,” Grossell said. “It was very thorough and the university made a really good case for the replacement project.”
Wednesday’s tour isn’t the first time a committee from the Legislature has visited the campus to see Hagg-Sauer. For example, the Minnesota House Bonding Committee toured the building in 2015.
A bonding bill wasn’t approved in the 2016 legislative session, though, and the project wasn’t included in the $995 billion version of the bonding bill this year. However, when looking to next year’s session, BSU President Faith Hensrud said she’s confident it can get done.
“I feel really positive about how the tour went today, and I think those who visited see that it is an important need and that it will reduce costs,” Hensrud said.
In addition to BSU pushing for the project, so is Minnesota State, which has listed the replacement of Hagg-Sauer as its No. 1 priority in its colleges and universities system for the 2018 session.
It’s not just Hagg-Sauer in the bonding request either; the project also includes improvements to the Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex, Bensen Hall, Sattgast Hall and the A.C. Clark Library.
If funding is approved by the Legislature next year, BSU would start working on the project in November 2018.
The work would start by relocating faculty offices out of Hagg-Sauer and demolition and construction of the new building would get underway in summer 2019. Completion of the project would be expected in fall 2020.
Once finished, Hagg-Sauer will have 10 teaching spaces on two floors, which can work for classroom sizes ranging from 40 to 132 seats. Also, the building will feature a 320-seat auditorium. Faculty offices that were relocated out of the old Hagg-Sauer building, meanwhile, would be located closer to learning areas, allowing for better engagement with students.
“What we would have is a space where we can create interactive student learning classrooms that have multiple computer screens and flexibility for students to work together on projects,” Hensrud said. “We’re creating a building to provide a more engaged learning style.
“When you talk to employers now, a lot of them are speaking about the need for more soft skills,” Hensrud said. “The students are coming out with good experience for their major, but this will help improve communication and learning how to work in teams.”