University of Virginia Library

Wilson Hall To Begin Service
Despite Installation Setbacks

By Peter Shea

James Southall Wilson Hall, the
new annexation to Cabell Hall,
opened unofficially yesterday with
the start of the new semester.

Despite original plans, the
addition can only be partially used
at present due to the delay in
shipping of movable furniture and
the installation of the telephones in
the faculty offices. The delay in
occupying Wilson Hall was caused
by the complications encountered
through dealing with both the
Federal and State governments, said
Eric D. Hirsch, Chairman of the
English department, yesterday.

By state law, all furniture and

equipment in state buildings can
only be acquired after bids from
different companies have been
examined. The movable equipment
in the building was thus bought
from numerous different
companies, the lowest bidders for
each type of furniture. The delivery
schedules of the companies vary,
ranging from fourteen to ninety
days.

Complicating the matter, a
federal statute also applies to
Wilson Hall that federal auditors
must examine not only the building
itself but also the equipment in it.
The building can not be approved
until the furniture is installed.

At the present time, five of the
rooms in Wilson Hall are being
used. They are all large classrooms
with fixed, unmovable furniture,
including two, one-hundred seat
lecture halls on the second floor,
two third floor lecture rooms with
seating capacities of 200 people,
and the 350 seat auditorium.

It is uncertain when the smaller
classrooms, which will be used for
seminar classes, and the offices can
be occupied. Dean Irby B. Cauthen
expressed hope that all facilities
will be available for use by the
second half of the semester.
Eventually, classes in geography,
government, foreign affairs, speech,
drama, history, English, and
mathematics will be held in the new
building.

Dean Cauthen made one
surprise ruling yesterday,
announcing that the English
department and himself had
decided to ban smoking in the new
building. Mr. Cauthen, himself a
former smoker, said that the
decision was reached in order to
keep Wilson Hall as clean and new
as possible, at least until it has been
formally opened to the public.

As has occurred in the past, a
group of Architectural critics have
posted signs on the new building
proclaiming their disgust with the
structure. The signs, which call
Wilson Hall "an architectural
disgrace", prompted Dean Cauthen
to say "I deplore the abominable
taste and evident vandalism of
those who have posted these signs
in a handsome building belonging
to the State. I hope they will be
prosecuted to the fullest extent of
the law."