When faced with a building steeped in tradition and saddled with disrepair, President Gregory Geoffroy opened the forum for Iowa State community and alumni to be part of the decision-making process determining the fate of 112-year-old Morrill Hall. In researching Morrill Hall, Geoffroy learned several things.

First, renovation is possible, if the bricks, cast-iron steel frame, roof and windows are all replaced. Second, plenty of people have strong feelings of attachment to the building that has served as everything from the chapel to the library to the Extension Services home.

Geoffroy’s commitment to public input on the Morrill Hall question was appropriate. Had he ridden into town and summarily vowed to level the historical landmark, he would have neither had public support nor the perceived legitimacy to carry out the job. Despite the overwhelming public support for renovating Morrill Hall, Geoffroy is still cautious about the project, citing the major components of the building requiring complete replacement. In a Feb. 25 column in the Daily, Geoffroy described the massive task to be more aptly called reconstruction, rather than restoration. While the public supports renovation in lieu of bulldozing the building and starting afresh, the reconstruction project will cost nearly twice what building from the ground up would cost.

While President Geoffroy has decided no public funds will be used in the $10 million renovation, he has committed to a fund-raising campaign to attract alumni and potential donors to the Morrill Hall restoration project. Rather than using public money in the Regent’s capital improvement budget, Morrill Hall will be renovated by using exclusively private funding. While donors often give to very specific, if eccentric causes (lighting the engineering water tower, for example) kicking off such an aggressive fund-raising campaign for an expensive construction project couched in terms of renovation seems imprudent in these tight economic times.

President Geoffroy kept his word on making a decision based on public opinion. In the final analysis, by removing the bricks, replacing the roof and redoing the infrastructure, the antiquated essence of Morrill Hall will disappear. The proposed occupants of the building, University Museums, the Center for Visual Learning in Textiles and Clothing, and the Center for Teaching Excellence do not fill the roles of the chapel, the library, or even the barbershop that once occupied Morrill Hall.

No one wants the red ivy-covered turrets to turn into a parking ramp on Central Campus. However, the proponents of renovation must accept that the essence of the building they so ardently wish to save will be lost in an expensive reconstruction project.