ANNAPOLIS — The university is one step closer to securing funds to renovate the Tawes Fine Arts Building for the English department – a project in the pipeline for more than 15 years – after a state analyst recommended yesterday that legislators include money for the project in the state’s capital budget.
While administrators said they are pleased with the recommendation, they are still pushing for money for an addition to Van Munching Hall and a new journalism building in a year when the state has a notably healthy funding supply, including $1.8 billion in a “rainy day” account for miscellaneous expenses. The Van Munching and journalism projects would cost the state roughly $26 million.
Vice President for Administrative Affairs John Porcari said he remains “cautiously optimistic” the state may still allocate planning funds for the two projects, although time is running out. The state’s legislative session ends April 10 and legislators like to settle capital issues with time to spare, he said. Administrators plan to continue discussions with Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s staff and legislators, he said.
The projects already have support from private donors – about $10 million of Van Munching’s $16 million cost and $5 million of the journalism building’s $25 million cost – which should make them more appealing to legislators, Porcari said.
“I certainly helps,” he said. “Securing donor funding for a substantial portion of the costs is an integral part of our goals as a university.”
If the state follows the analyst’s recommendations for Tawes, legislators will assign the university $1.47 million to complete the renovation. Susquehanna Hall, where the English department currently resides, is far too small, and 20 percent of Tawes sits empty, administrators said in a report to legislators.
The university originally moved the department into Susquehanna in 1990 with the idea that it would be there for no more than two years. Normally, state-funded construction projects go through two years of planning, followed by a year of construction and another year of outfitting with equipment.
However, the project was stalled in its earliest stages when the state granted the university enough money to complete the first year of Tawes’ renovation planning, but no more.
“We’ve had faculty come here and retire without moving into Tawes,” said university President Dan Mote.
The analyst’s suggestion to fund Tawes was noted by the legislators at yesterday’s hearing, but administrators said the proposed funding still has a long road to inclusion in the state budget, which will take effect July 1. After approval by the Senate and House, the budget must garner Ehrlich’s go-ahead.
Mote said Tawes’ renovation should be home free if the state approves the funding for its second year of planning because, to his knowledge, the state has never scrapped a project after it passes the initial hurdle.
However, he said, the legislators are unlikely to dip into the state’s “rainy day” money to fund Van Munching and the journalism building because the state likes to maintain as large a reserve as possible.
Contact reporter Kate Campbell at campbelldbk@gmail.com.
