A motion to expand Varner Hall was recently approved by The Oakland University Board of Trustees.

Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and provost Dr. James Lentini said he wants to provide adequate space for every program at Oakland University (OU).

“The whole campus is challenged with space,” Lentini said. “We are still at the low end of square footage per student.”

The next step in the expansion project is funding. The expansion is estimated to cost $98 million.

Lentini clarified that the Board did approve funding for the expansion, but that the project could move forward.

Lentini said capital outlay from the state is the number one priority for the project.

Capital outlay is a way for public universities and community to ask for funding for building projects.

According to Lentini, capital outlay funding amounts change each year. Funding is usually given in percentages rather than actual dollar amounts. For example the state may pay for 75% of a $5 million dollar project.

Lentini says funding could also come from private donations and a possible raise in tuition.

Varner is home to 14 academic programs, many of them from the Social Sciences as well as the Performing Arts.

“We have so many disciplines in that building,” Lentini said.

Varner has experienced deferred maintenance as well, according to Lentini. This is when repairs and maintenance work on a facility are postponed in order to save money. But renovations will not solve the problem of overcrowding that Lentini is concerned about.

“If we just renovate, we have no place to put the programs,” Lentini said.

Lentini has seen some block diagrams of what the expansion will look like. Sketches of the expansion are still in the making.

“There are very preliminary sketches of what the expansion will look like,” Lentini said.

Lentini is very confident about this project and how it will benefit students in the future.

“I’ve had a lot of experience with these kind of buildings,” Lentini said. “This is a project that affects this whole campus.”

Student liaison Robbie Williford also believes Varner is in need of some changes.

“We just need to knock it down and build a new one,” Williford said.

Williford believes the Music, Theatre, and Dance programs deserve a better space and it’s been a long time coming.

Varner is “something that has been neglected for so long,” Williford said.

As a student liaison to the Board of Trustees, Williford acts as the voice of the students at the Board of Trustees meetings. He knows that expanding Varner “has been on the docket for a long time,” Williford said.

Williford, who also works with housing, encourages students to go to Board of Trustees meetings if they want projects like this to be done.

“When you get student support it’s hard for the administration to overlook it,” Williford said.