Publication renovation

Pressroom gets new look

by Marisa Kratochvil
Editor-in-Chief

During the Fourth of July weekend at Monmouth College, the Student Publications pressroom, located in Lower Level Stockdale, suffered a substantial amount of damage due to the breakage of a pipeline.

According to Earl Wilfong, newly hired director of facilities management, there was a split in a plastic pipeline, which fed into the mixing chamber of the orange juice machine.

In addition, the pipeline traveled over the ceiling of the pressroom and, as a result, the water leakage caused problems.

“The water ran down through the ceiling, the light fixtures and down the walls,” said Tom Withenbury, director of student publications.

Furthermore, the water, which had apparently gone unnoticed for the weekend, flowed into the middle of the pressroom and damaged the furniture and carpeting.

“The ceiling was heavily compromised,” said Withenbury. “The water had loosen the asbestoses in the ceiling and had to be removed.”

For a period of time, the pressroom was sealed off with heavy plastic coverings in order for the abatement to take place.

In addition to the pressroom, the TNT Center, Withenbury’s office and maintenance/-boiler closet were also damaged.

The damage was paid via an insurance claim, said Wilfong, and the repairs were performed through in-house services, except the furniture was purchased elsewhere.

Currently, the pressroom now has a dropped ceiling, new lighting fixtures, climate control vents, carpeting, furniture, bulletin boards and the walls have a fresh coast of paint.

“We are proud to show people, especially prospective students and the folks of the MC community, our space,” Withenbury stated.

“We have fairly new hardware all around,” he added. “Daryl Carr [executive director of information systems] has gone above and beyond the call of duty to get us operating again and to get our computers operating with some of the specialized software we have.”

In addition, he Withenbury would like to thank Don Gladfelter, vice president for finance and business; Wilfong; Jackie Condon, vice president for student life/dean of students and the entire Green Army for their efforts.

“All of these folks made it happen.”

With the damage done to the pressroom aside and in looking at the future of The Courier, he added, “With the renovations of the publications room, I’ve already seen a marked improvement in the attitude of the students working on publications. Our space is clean, well-lit and the working environment has been conducive to the dramatic improvements in our publications.”