Construction noise annoying students before finals week

With finals week lingering like a leper knocking at the door, some students seem bothered by the whacking, hammering and pounding noise pollution penetrating the roofs and walls of the Briscoe and Forest Quad residential halls. \nExemplified by yards of yellow "caution" tape, green fence coverings, humongous red dumpsters and colossal roving cranes, IU architect Bob Meadows said private contractors are putting new roofs on both buildings.\n"It's not very exciting," Meadows said. "Generally, when a roof gets about 20 years old, it starts leaking. They just wear out, then it's time to replace them."\nWhile attempting to concentrate on schoolwork in the comfort of a Briscoe lounge couch, freshman Alex Teller said the noisy distraction for the last two or three weeks has been "no fun, really."\n"I was sitting here studying when they rolled that crane in," Teller said while turning a page in Toni Morrison's book "Sula." "I thought it would go away; each day it got progressively worse. They just kept adding on to the (construction) site. I guess it's semi-permanent."\nMeadows said Briscoe's new roof is costing Residential Programs and Services $527,800, and Forest Quad's new roof carries a $106,000 price tag. Since resident halls are expected to be self-sufficient, RPS -- which operates as a business -- raises its own revenue from student spending on food service and the rental of residence hall space. Meadows said the University defines building improvement projects as R & R -- repair and rehabilitation. \n"In other words, (RPS) put money aside for their own R & R," Meadows said. "(RPS) doesn't receive any money from the state. It ought to be finished in the next three to four weeks before students come back from (winter) break."\nFreshman Rebecca Feldman, a Briscoe resident, said she can't see the construction from her room but she can hear the construction workers' progress. \n"When I read about the construction in the paper, I was like 'good,' because Briscoe could use some renovation," Feldman said. "But then, 'Why are they doing this the last couple weeks before finals?' I live on the 11th floor. I was trying to write a paper this morning, but I had to come (downstairs) because it was too hard to concentrate. I was getting a headache from lots of loud banging noises."\nWith barricaded construction sites dappled in various locations across the campus, Meadows said other campus structures are receiving R & R, with several proposed projects waiting to break ground. \n"There are different levels of things that go on," Meadows said. "We are also putting a new roof on the Geology building. With the financial situation as it is, when we get some more money, there are many other roofs we need to replace."\nUnlike the Briscoe construction hidden on the north side of the building, the Forest Quad roof repair requires an extensive amount of equipment to be parked in the driveway arched in front of the building. As a result, Forest Quad's Greenleaf A-Building's sidewalk is buried behind two jumbo dumpsters and large crane. The entire area is sealed off by orange "danger" tape.\nUnderneath the sounds of busy hands constructing a new roof on Forest, freshman Chris Wade said he has heard the mechanical screams coming from the top of the building for weeks.\n"It's cut down on parking," Wade said. "It's a longer walk since you can't use the sidewalk. Plus, you have to watch out for cars." \n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.