A recent evaluation of Lincoln Hall has now revealed the basement unsafe, and as a result, the graduate students whose offices were located there were notified to evacuate the offices immediately.

“This is something that needs to happen,” said David Tuwksbury, director of graduate studies for the Communication department. “Lincoln Hall absolutely needs to be renovated.”

While University officials wait for the state General Assembly to pass a capital bill that would allow them to begin full scale renovation, smaller projects are already underway which is why the building’s basement is being evacuated.

“We’re being told that (the new location) is a much nicer work environment than the basement,” said Brian Dolber, teaching assistant in Communication. “The Lincoln Hall basement is very dingy, not very clean, and difficult to access.”

The announcement came Thursday, which sent graduate students packing up office materials. Graduate students in Communication will move their offices to classrooms on the first floor of Lincoln Hall after the holiday weekend.

“We’ve been planning to move them out of the basement this semester,” said communication department head Barbara Wilson. “They have heard this story before, and it’s almost like they can’t believe it.”

For years, attention has been drawn to the danger in Lincoln Hall. This semester, all classes that were to be held in Lincoln Hall have been moved to other campus buildings to make room for renovation of the 97-year-old building.

The lack of state funds has stalled the renovation plans, leaving the department offices of communication, political science, and sociology in Lincoln Hall despite the movement of classes. The administrative offices of LAS are also located in the building, and the teaching assistants in sociology and communication have offices located in the basements.

“If any state legislator were to walk in here and saw the facilities I think they would be very disappointed that students would have to try to learn and work here in a building that is falling apart,” said Wilson.

Without instruction in the classrooms, the graduate students had a place to move that had been missing.

There were no immediate plans to move sociology graduate students out of the basement this semester, as they were located in a space under Lincoln Hall Theater that was previously cleared as secure.

However, the communication graduate students were in a corridor of the basement that was deemed unsafe. Plans to move the teaching assistants to 704 S. Sixth Street were slated to take place this in late September, Wilson said. The immediate evaluation has forced the move to the first floor temporarily until the new location is ready.

“The big issue is that we cannot conduct classes in this building because they’re not conducive to learning,” said Wilson. “This is the most movement we have had in years, and it’s no longer safe to hold classes here, so either the building will sit empty or we will find the funds to move forward.”

While University officials wait for the state General Assembly to pass a capital bill that would allow them to begin full scale renovation, smaller projects are already underway which is why the building’s basement is being evacuated.

“We’re being told that (the new location) is a much nicer work environment than the basement,” said Brian Dolber, teaching assistant in Communication. “The Lincoln Hall basement is very dingy, not very clean, and difficult to access.”