No interim home yet for Music Dept.

The Music Department is in limbo as to where it will go in the interim between the upcoming demolition of its current location at 20 Professors Row and the completion of the new music facility. The administration has yet to choose a temporary location for the department, which awaits the groundbreaking of the new music building at the intersection of Professors Row and Packard Ave.

The current music building will be demolished to make way for the new dorm. Construction on the dorm is expected to get underway during the summer of 2003. The music department also currently uses the basement of Aidekman Arts Center for classes, practices, the music library, storage, and faculty offices. But Aidekman will not be able to house the entire department after the property at 20 Professors Row is demolished.

The department is working with Vice President of Operations John Roberto to find an interim location, Music Librarian Michael Rogan said. "The main problem is that every program has too little space."

The Provost's House, located at 48 Professors Row next to the Mayer Campus Center, is the most probable interim location for the department. The house is currently being occupied by former Provost Sol Gittleman, who will vacate it at the end of the year. One idea that has been proposed is for Provost Jamshed Bharucha to wait to move into the house and for the Music Department to take it over until construction of the new building is complete, according to Music Department Chair John McDonald.

"At this point, it's still a matter of timing," McDonald said.

Bharucha previously told the Daily that he does not feel strongly about moving into the Provost's House and hopes the space will be used for an academic department.

As of now, there is no timetable for the new music facility's construction. The administration is awaiting further fundraising progress before breaking ground.

Raising additional funds for the music building may be frustrated by the fact that donors are more enticed to give money for the new dormitory, according to McDonald. Nonetheless, he is "confident that the administration has our needs and interests in mind and will work hard to meet those interests."

Some students, however, do not have as much confidence in the administration. "It seems like [the new building] is never actually going to be built because there are so many things standing in the way," senior Jake Cohen said. Cohen, a music major, added, "If I stay here for graduate school, I probably still wouldn't see it. They've been talking about this since my freshman year." The building was originally supposed to be completed this academic year, he said.

Newer students have also expressed dissatisfaction with the music department's current situation. "The music facilities at Tufts are severely lacking," freshman Michael Hadley said. "We need a pleasant and acoustically adapted performance space, we need new pianos in the practice rooms, and we especially need classrooms that don't resemble prison cells."

"The new building is a crucial step toward making music accessible to and enjoyable by everyone on the Tufts campus," Hadley said.

The department is awaiting the new building's construction with anticipation. "We have outgrown the space we have," Assistant Music Librarian Abigail Al-Doory said. "We have a severe lack of study space for students and places to put new materials."

There are only three classrooms in the entire music department, all of which have ventilation problems. The music library is also pressed for space.

Three years ago, the University decided to build a new music building after an anonymous donor gave $4 million toward the project. As of today, $10.5 million of the $13 million needed to begin construction has been raised.

The new building will have three stories. The first two levels will contain performance spaces, classrooms, offices, and a storage area. The top floor will be dedicated to the music library and circulation desk, and "finally we will actually have much needed bathrooms and windows, something the basement [of Aidekman] currently lacks," Al-Doory said.