President McPherson initiated a new strategic planning process in 1999. In 2001, the Strategic Directions Committee released "Strategic Directions for Macalester." The committee's recommendations were based on "Core Values" discussions from the 1999-2000 school year. The document identified 10 strategic directions for advancing the college's tradition of excellence while ensuring the college's future. In the beginning of the 2002 school year, McPherson appointed faculty and staff members to six strategic direction implementation task forces. The general purpose of these task forces is to take Strategic Directions and make them a reality. The six task forces are: Admissions and Financial Aid, Institutional Identity, Academic Program Quality and Structure, Student Learning Experience and Resource Use: Budgeting, Staffing and Organization, and Facilities. This is the fourth report of six.

The Task Force on Facilities (TFOF), composed of 15 Macalester staff, students and outside professionals, released a report in June 2001 that focused on "developing an inclusive and orderly planning process" for three large campus projects: expansion of residential facilities and an overhaul of the aging Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center and Athletic facilities. The report was the result of weekly meetings of the committee throughout last year in which, according to TFOF member Katie Krajeck '04, members of the Macalester community were able to voice concerns about the state of campus facilities. While the TFOF "did a good job of working on some campus problems," a lack of funding has led to a relative standstill in the development of some important projects.

According to Residential Life Director Sarah Griesse, the task force made recommendations for student housing in light of the three major housing priorities for Residential Life. First on the list is the creation of more campus housing options for juniors and seniors, who are consistently turned down due to lack of space. The second priority is to reduce the density of freshman and sophomore living space, as the housing crunch has necessitated the conversion to doubles and triples of spaces intended to be singles and doubles. Finally, Residential Life would like to see renovation of the Cottages, which provide upper-class housing.

The task force recommended four projects to consider developing in order to alleviate the housing crunch, two of which have already been approved by the Board of Trustees. One is the renovation of Wallace Hall, which includes the re-finishing of the attic from a storage area to a student housing area that will be ready for Fall '03 and likely house upper-class students. The second project, which begins this summer, is the construction of an addition onto the south side of Turck Hall that will house 53 students when it opens in Fall '04. The addition will connect Bigelow and Turck through a second floor "skyway," and include a glass-encased lounge area for each floor that will look out on a newly landscaped Bigelow-Turck courtyard. The preliminary plans are to house first-years in the new wing; this would open up more room for sophomores in Dupre and possibly open up 30 Mac for upper class housing, according to Griesse.

The report issued by the TFOF underscored the necessity of the Fine Arts renovation, which is also to include the Humanities building, in light of heavy student use of the relatively out-dated complex. Built in 1964, the complex today serves four times the number of students for which it was intended, according to professor of Art and TFOF member Ruthann Godollei. While the Humanities building was renovated in 1991, the Fine Arts building has received no renovation, leaving what Godollei calls "outstanding health and safety concerns" unaddressed. The building is not ADA compliant, lacking both passenger and freight elevators.

"We end up having to bump our pianos down the stairs to get them repaired," Godollei said.

As with the Fine Arts complex, the TFOF offered suggestions as to the way the Athletic facilities could be approved in light of the Strategic Directions. In light of the fact the facility currently serves only 50 percent of the Macalester population, the Report emphasized that renovations be made with an eye towards user-friendliness and multi-use capacity.

Athletic Director and TFOF member Irvin Cross believes that the facility should make it possible to "develop a program where each student will be able to maintain optimal wellness, which includes spiritual, mental and physical wellness." Preliminary plans include multipurpose rooms for wellness activities such as yoga and meditation, as well as a climbing wall.

The renovations are also aimed at alleviating the space-crunch inside the Athletic facilities, which were intended only to support men's athletics when they were built in 1951. Cross would like to see the new facility be spacious enough to accommodate both club and varsity sports at more convenient hours than are now available.

While the facilities task force made headway in "the process of planning to plan" the Fine Arts and Athletic facilities, neither project has been approved by the Board or been placed on any certain time-line for completion. New committees have been created to continue the planning process, but administration will be able to collect sufficient donations to fund the projects.

"It's a little frustrating," Godollei said. "Last year we had 1192 students take art, music and theater for credit. We can't do anything about the economy, but we think that we (the Fine Arts project) should be a high priority, and soon."

Dickinson emphasizes that there is recognition of the need for the completion of all three projects and that it is not a question of priority. The residence hall projects that are now underway are smaller in scale and require less research and donor funding than the Fine Arts and Athletics projects.

"Residence halls are not high on the list of projects people donate to," Dickinson said. "In basic terms, we took out a mortgage to fund Turck. Its not a question of trade-offs, we are just doing what we can accomplish now."