Caption
Clark Atlanta University President George T. French Jr. speaks at the 2020 Graduation Ceremony at the Harkness Hall Quadrangle in Atlanta on May 15, 2021. The 2020 ceremony has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 graduates also received their diplomas on Saturday. (Photo: Steve Schaefer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Photo credit: Steve Schafer
Photo credit: Steve Schafer
French said in the letter that the university is keen to complete the renovations and that it will pay for the parking lot and shuttle service to transport students to and from campus for activities and meals. The students stay in several hotels in downtown Atlanta. He found that the problems affect about 20% of the 2,150 students who are housed in student dormitories.
Clark Atlanta had about 4,000 students last year, but they didn’t allow them on campus for the fall semester due to the coronavirus pandemic. The university is require COVID-19 vaccinations are slated to be on campus this fall, unless a student has been given a waiver.
The apartment renovations include replacing damaged pipes, ceiling tiles, floors and water heaters, as well as new furniture for the rooms. The letter does not explain why the renovations are behind schedule. University officials did not say how much the renovations would cost on Monday, but said it will not use any federal pandemic funds that the school has received.
Clark Atlanta, Georgia’s largest private, historically black university, had problems with student dormitories early in the previous school years. French alluded to a situation a few years ago. In 2018, up to 150 students said their rooms were unavailable due to financial problems, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said at the time reported. Bob Holmes, a former state official who taught at Clark Atlanta for about three decades before retiring in 2005, recalled in a phone interview Monday that some students were temporarily staying at a hotel in the early 2000s when they started school lived near the former Turner Field year.
Caption
Many Clark Atlanta University students assigned to Heritage Commons rooms remain in temporary accommodations due to delays in renovations. Photo credit: Clark Atlanta University.
Almost all colleges and universities have made updates to campus buildings and classrooms as part of social distancing guidelines since the pandemic began, such as: Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, called these “some of the hidden costs of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The challenge, they and others say, is greater for historically black colleges and universities as more of their buildings need renovation. Clark Atlanta listed building maintenance in its 2018-2023 strategic plan, and officials said Monday that there isn’t enough housing on campus to meet student demand.
According to a recent analysis by Gordian and APPA, Leadership & Educational Facilities, an association that represents more than 1,300 colleges and universities around the world, schools spend about $ 37 billion annually on the operation and maintenance of buildings, but there is a maintenance backlog of $ 112.3 billion. APPA has called for more federal funding for aging facilities and HVAC upgrades.
Pasquerella said many schools had postponed maintenance because they were often at full capacity.
Holmes said HBCUs like Clark Atlanta didn’t have enough money to properly maintain their student apartments. Holmes said it was a two-pronged problem: schools, in many cases, do a poor job of fundraising, and philanthropists have given in the past less money for HBCUs.
“That’s why they can’t do renovations,” he said.
