Renovation right route

Popular opinion about Ballantine Hall is that it is an eyesore and never should have been built.\nSome members of the Editorial Board agree with that sentiment, but being crunched for space and money here at IU, the proposal to renovate the structure instead of building another is welcome news. Complaints about the building range from lack of air-conditioning to broken elevators, as well as spot power outages in some parts of the building. Repairs to these, and other things, will make Ballantine a much more welcoming building, at least on the inside. \nWith renovations rather than demolition and reconstruction, the campus will not be thrown into as much disarray logistically as with the construction of the graduate business school. IU will also save money by using what it already has. Ballantine has a lot of classroom and faculty office space; it is just not a very comfortable building. With the renovations, Ballantine could take a step toward being more hospitable.\nTo alleviate the stretching of resources during renovations, a humanities building will be built to accommodate occupants of the sections to be renovated -- one stage at a time. This new construction, though not massive in scope, does present another issue. With a new science building already going behind Rawles Hall, where will the humanities building go? The center of campus is going to be tightly packed if we want to keep the trees intact. The addition of a new building will go a long way toward giving the campus more access to the humanities, and if used in concert with Ballantine Hall as faculty office space, IU will get a practical solution to a big, lumbering problem.\nWe support renovations being made to Ballantine Hall and feel the decision to not tear it down was a wise choice. We hope the University makes the much needed extensive steps necessary to ensure IU stays at the forefront of education while at the same time managing its resources well.