Quad Renovation Noise Aggravates Students

The noisy brick cutting and demolition that provoked aggravated residents of the Barnard Quad to create an anti-construction Facebook group is the final part of routine renovations to the residence halls.

Noise from construction work has drawn complaints from Barnard students for some time, between the renovations and separate work on the Nexus site. According to Julio Vasquez, director of facilities services at Barnard, the project adheres to New York City’s Department of Buildings Local Law 11, which mandates the inspection of buildings every few years. In the past two years, scaffolding has appeared on the exteriors of 616, 620, 600, Brooks, and Hewitt, as well as other residence halls, due to extensive renovations in waterproofing.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the residents of Sulzberger and Reid from voicing their frustrations. “I take naps during the day and find it really annoying. It’s hard to sleep in,” said Kate Sacks, BC ’11, whose participation on the crew team causes her to salvage extra sleep whenever she can.

Barnard is now in the last stage of the project, with only Sulzberger undergoing repairs.
Some students in rooms that don’t face the Quad—and even a few who do, living in the topmost floors—had little to say about the noise. Julie Singer, BC ’08, who lives on the ninth floor of the tower and who can view the Quad from her room, said that it doesn’t affect her at all.

Natalie Holt, BC ’11, who lives in a room on the Broadway side, said it does not pose a disturbance to her either. “It just makes it so that I have to walk,” she said, pointing to the rerouted pathways on the Quad that prevent students from taking shortcuts. “It keeps me from being lazy.”

Vasquez said the reason construction appears to irritate those students facing the Quad is that the brick cutting occurs solely in the grassy area of the Quad, from which the bricks are then sent up to both sides of Sulzberger’s exterior for placement.

“Right now, brick cutting is going on inside the courtyard, and we cannot control that,” Lou Virchio, the foreman for the project, said.

But strong student reactions have not diminished from many who are tired of living on a campus that seems constantly under construction. A Facebook group entitled “The brick cutter in the Barnard Quad SUCKS AT LIFE” had 55 members from the Columbia Network as of November 28.

Students post their complaints on the wall, mentioning incidents of interrupted studying, earlier-than-normal wake-up times, and vibrating beds.

Another Quad resident, Hayley Andrews, BC ’11, described the measures that she has taken to combat the noise. “It’s absolutely miserable,” she said. “It’s a horrible screeching noise that wakes me up. I have to wear earplugs during the middle of the day right after lunch.”

Andrews recalled an experiment she and her roommate conducted—putting on earplugs, closing the windows, and turning on loud music, only to discover that they could still hear the cutting outside.

Vasquez emphasized his and the college’s concerns about the impacts of the noise on the upcoming study period. He said that the work will wrap up before finals, although Virchio intimated to a date toward the end of December.

“Students understand that work has to be going on,” Vasquez said.

While students do see it as an inconvenience, some understand the need for it. “It’s ugly, but it has to be done sometime,” Joyce Ng, BC ’11, said.

Scott Levi can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.