The Student Union Building (SUB) has been partially closed off since a large elm tree fell on it on the night of January 31, 2020.

In the eight months since, SPU facilities and maintenance have been working to reopen the building for all students, but especially commuter students, who use it as a study area during times they either don’t have class or can’t return home.

According to Dave Church, the Assistant Vice President for Facilities Management at SPU, all areas of the SUB are functional and usable except for the mailbox and the collegium.

With the start of the school year upon the SPU campus, Church and his staff have worked to make the SUB fully accessible and useful.

The roofing process began on Wednesday September 9th and is scheduled to be done by the middle of the first week of school.

On Sept. 9, the drywall was restocked, and that process is scheduled to be completed by Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Facilities plan to have the painting to be done by the first week of classes. The glass for the windows and stucco were put in place on Saturday, Sept. 12.

With marble concrete needed for the interior, the timeline for the end of the project is still unknown.

The fireplace will be fully repaired by Sept. 15, and the temporary fence will be taken down when the exterior of the building is deemed done and safe. 

Despite some work continuing into the school year, Church believed that the SUB will be fully open and accessible by the start of classes on Sept. 14.

As of Sept. 15, the collegium was still closed and stucco work was ongoing. Construction foreman Max Wilson said that the fence could be down by the end of week 1, but that he is unsure of the timeline to get the collegium reopened.

“Anything that could tell would be hearsay, I haven’t seen any emails or confirmations of anything about what’s going on in the area once it’s turned back over,” Wilson explained. 

“This work will wrap up the re-roof, chimney repair, and finish the mailbox area.  The fence will be gone by the 14th and all areas re-opened,” said Church. 

Church did warn that additional work will be needed to fully repair the interior of the SUB, namely the collegium and that those repairs will probably have to be delayed until the end of the quarter when students go on break.

“The former Collegium area interior will still not have the interior replaced – but it will be used for dining after the 14th,” said Church. “We will most likely make interior repairs after Thanksgiving when the room can be closed again.