Rotting ceiling tiles, an unused snack center and microscopic bugs falling out of an air conditioning unit highlight the many problems in the Halsey Science Center. 

“Our buildings are old and need a lot of love,” a comment on a Facilities survey that was acquired through an open records request said.  “The stark differences between Halsey and Clow stand out in my mind. I know it’s a money thing but if you want to attract more students to a STEM course, they need a facility that doesn’t make them feel behind by 30 years.”

The south wing of the Halsey Science Center was constructed in 1963 while the north side of the building came six years later in 1969. Significant renovations occurred in 2001.

Five departments are hosted in the building along with two program offices and more than 20 different academic departments have classes there a year. 

According to the 2023 White Paper for a New Science Building, a Space Needs Assessment report completed in 2016 indicated that each of the biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering technology and physics departments needed space. 

Kevin Crawford, a professor of chemistry at UWO, said that the statement about recruitment stuck with him because STEM programs are highly reliant on equipment and facilities to support their research and recruitment.

“I heard a long time ago that generally when a university builds a new science building, their recruitment goes up about 10%,” Crawford said. “It doesn’t hold as others building new buildings, but certainly not having a newer building puts us behind to recruit STEM majors.”

Shelly Michalski, professor of Parasitology said that Halsey is dated and antiquated.

“Faculty offices and some classrooms are in the high 80’s in the summer and in the low 60’s in the winter,” Michalski said. “Many times faculty have to go home to work because it’s too comfortable in our offices, which means we aren’t around for students.”

A UWO student responded to a survey conducted in the spring 2023 semester about Halsey and said that the building doesn’t provide the feeling that they’re receiving the latest and greatest of anything.

“Appearances matter, that’s why there are non-stop college tours,” the UWO student said. “If you have a prospective college student or faculty member who looks through the building, I’m sure they will leave feeling underwhelmed in comparison to other schools.” 

In an interview with the Advance-Titan in 2023, Crawford said that the building has a need for more food and beverage options beyond vending machines. As it stands now, Halsey’s only available food and beverage options are four vending machines located outside the building’s lecture halls. 

That same survey revealed that a large majority of both students and staff strongly disagreed with the statement, “Halsey has welcoming lounge areas, sufficient seating spaces and adequate food options.” 

When touring the fourth floor of Halsey, buckets to catch water leaks from the ceiling covered the Room 403 General Chemistry Lab vents, scattered ceiling tiles had mold growth and the Room 453 lab had a massive plastic bag hanging from the ceiling, intended to catch microscopic insects falling from the air conditioning vents according to Crawford.

After personal inspection, at least 11 rooms on the third and fourth floor of the building have growth occurring on a ceiling tile.

When Crawford and seven other professors were assigned to create a proposal for a new science building, they stated that flooding from heavy rains and sewage backup damaged thousands of specimens and books inside a natural history museum in the basement of the building.

Years after making the proposal, Crawford said he heard in a recent college forum that according to the UWO Provost Edwin Martini, Halsey is third in line for repairs, behind the Kolf Sports Center and Polk Library.

“That told me that I’ll likely be retired before (UWO) will have a new science building, and I plan on that being at least seven years from now,” Crawford said. “It bothers me because we’ve been talking about a new science building for quite a few years now, and the need for one, and nothing has really happened that’s visible.”

Michalski kept her thoughts short about Halsey being third in line.

“We hear a lot of promises,” she said. “I’ll believe it when I see it.

She said that she’s embarrassed to bring colleagues from other places into Halsey because of its sanitary issues.

“When COVID-19 hit the janitors stopped cleaning,” Michalski said. “[Halsey] floors went years without being cleaned and polished so now they are irreversibly damaged. For some reason, we no longer have janitorial service in our research labs and many teaching labs. We as professors have to take the time out of our schedules to sweep the floors and dump garbage if we have time. Which we don’t.”

A-T staff member Suzy Dawood said she’d seen a cockroach come out of a storage closet in the basement in the fall 2025 semester and a comment acquired by an open records request said they’d seen a roach in the women’s bathroom on the second floor over the January term.

According to Michalski, they’re limited by the lack of infrastructure like biological safety cabinets and ventilation.

“Our cadaver room has no ventilation and this has affected students and instructors for decades [such as headaches and respiratory symptoms],” Michalski said. “There’s lots of things we can’t teach because we don’t have basic infrastructure.”

The renovation in 2001 cost $15 million and would’ve gone over that total if the contractor completed their full plan of renovations and equipment additions. It addressed HVAC, electrical, asbestos tile, accessibility issues, replaced outdated furniture and improved layouts of rooms.

From the 2001 renovation to the 2023 release of the White Page, additional renovations projects have cost the state and UWO over $2.4 million.

In 2023 the professors and students of Halsey called for a new science building on campus, and still as the 2025-26 academic year comes to a close, they call for a new science building.