New Africa House

Inward Reach, Outward Stretch

The W.E.B. Du Bois Department was established as a department by the Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts in 1970. The Du Bois Department’s building, New Africa House, contains many stories. To the left of the main doors a red, black, and green art piece was mounted on the wall for decades. How did it get there? Who made it? What is its significance?

“The New Africa House” is a piece the mixed media painter and sculptor Joe Sam created. Sam is a world-renowned artist born and raised in Harlem, New York City, who earned a doctorate in education and psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, taught at Columbia University, and was director of the Head Start Program in San Francisco for over ten years. He gradually began to commit himself full time to art. His colorful work seeks to celebrate the warmth, fun and joy of children. He has completed a number of sculptures for facilities across the country including a public health center near Seattle, a senior citizens library in Florida, and an office complex in Santa Monica, CA.

He has also illustrated children’s books and is the recipient of various grants and awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant.  Since 1989, Joe Sam has received over 30 public art commissions including his largest of 53 pieces for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He currently divides his time between both coasts with studios in Windsor, Conn., and San Francisco, Calif.  “As an African-American artist, my art reflects my heritage and social concern.  I enjoy creating art that speaks to people of all backgrounds and races, but especially to those of Third World cultures. My art reflects and encourages mutual respect, understanding and joy and reaching out towards one another with warmth, humor and color,” explained Joe Sam. For more on Sam, see www.joesam.com/

What do you see in “The New Africa House”?

The building as I found it in 2007, by Amilcar Shabazz:

When I arrived at UMass Amherst to become the seventh chair of W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies one of the least attractive aspects of my new position was the building where our offices were located. New Africa House (NAH) was a mess. The roof leaked and the fourth floor was virtually uninhabitable, the basement was filthy, there was a wheelchair ramp to get into the building but then no elevator to take you to any floors besides the first one. When I attended a meeting for building managers–I soon found that as the Afro-Am chair I was the bm of NAH (building manager)–I learned that NAH was in the “Renew & Reinvest” category. We were better off than say Hills House across the street. Those office buildings were deemed beyond the pale and no maintenance or upgrade would be allowed. So my question became when will some reinvestment in NAH occur. The physical plant administrator speaking at the meeting made a joke about how our building received a ramp in the 1980s and was supposed to have gotten an elevator then, but here we were over two decades later and the best he could tell me is that whenever the University secured the funding we’d get that elevator. I found that because asbestos had been used throughout NAH I could not do simple fix ups like getting my office painted or replacing the worn out carpet. No offices for graduate students or visiting faculty, and dingy ones for the department’s faculty. The third floor had restrooms only for males. Females had to walk down to the women’s only restroom on the 2nd floor. We had a lounge with a small fridge and a microwave oven, but to clean the coffee maker you had to use the restroom sink. NAH was in sad shape.

Fast forward to the start of the Obama presidency in January of 2009. UMass put in NAH among some of its “shovel ready” projects that could benefit from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies. And away we go. I found myself involved in meetings in the spring to discuss renovation of NAH. The design of the work was limited to installation of an elevator and a fire safety system (sprinklers) throughout the building. It was time consuming, but I was excited about additional improvements coming to NAH. That year repair work to the roof had occurred and to the brick facade that was slightly disruptive to building activities but worth it. See photo below:

Everything was going according to plan and the job was bid out to contractors. The winner was Fontaine Bros. which recently had completed UMass’s new Recreation Center and a $75 million dollar Chicopee Comprehensive High School, the largest project in the company’s history. So by October construction got started and we found we needed to relocate all our classes and offices somewhere else on the campus. It was one hell of an inconvenience, but I kept telling myself and others to pardon our progress and no pain, no gain. It was about this same time we started to hear rumors that with all this money going into the building that things were going to change and that space that we thought we controlled in the name of the black community was gone with the wind. When I asked up the line what was going on I was told to write a memo. So here’s the first one:

MEMORANDUM

TO:     Ron Michaud, CHFA Associate Dean
FR:      Amilcar Shabazz, Chair
DA:     23 October 2009
RE:      New Africa House Building Use Plan & Needs Going Forward

The W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies is pleased to note that the work to install an elevator and other building code upgrades has begun. In anticipation of this work we have begun discussing our plans for New Africa House (NAH) and determining some of its needs going forward. Herein is a summary report and request for assistance.

The Du Bois Department has been the primary caretaker of NAH since the former dormitory Mills House was converted from residential/student space into academic/faculty space. The background to that conversion is significant: “a fight broke out between black and white students outside Mills. That night, when a meeting in Mills was taken over by angry black students who seized the furniture, ‘it became clear to me that there was going to be a major disruption,’ says [former state chancellor of higher education Judith] Gill. The next night saw ‘the first race riot’ on the UMass campus. Almost comical, in comparison – not that Gill would have found it so – was the pelting of former presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey, who happened to be speaking on campus, with marshmallows and jellybeans. ‘I sometimes wonder how we got through that week,’ says Gill” (http://www.umass.edu/umassmag/archives/2001/spring2001/cats.html).

The document “PLANNING FOR THE 1980’s: A Status Report Submitted by The Department of Afro-American Studies” gives a more accurate account of Gill’s “race riot”:

“Among numerous members of the University community it is still believed that the Afro-American Studies Department came into being because of this building take-over, since one of the demands coming from the house was for a black studies department. It is, perhaps, one of those ticklish points of history as to how much the take-over may have influenced the faculty senators who already had the proposal  under consideration.

The facts, however, are simple. It has been noted that the black students brought to the University by CCEBS were met with some hostility; much of it came from ‘fraternity row.’ One day in Spring of 1969, a gang of ‘frat boys’ chased several black students to their dormitory. When the students secured themselves behind a locked door, the fraternity gang left, vowing to gather an even larger number and return to ‘do battle.’ Barricading themselves in the house, the black students went through the halls knocking on doors, announcing that when the fraternity gang returned, the students housed in Mills were ‘either with them or against them’ and if they were not ‘with them’ they should leave the dorm. It was easier to fight, they felt, if all their foes were in one place. Uninvolved white students left the building. Meanwhile, more black students joined those in the house and what began as a defense tactic on the part of harassed black students was blown into a full-fledged building take-over reminiscent of those taking place over the nation–demands and all. For days after, UMass joined the nation in having ‘black militants’ take over a building” (http://www.umass.edu/afroam/planning.html). One result of the “take-over” is that Mills the dorm was closed and NAH the classroom and office building was created.

Over the past forty years, like many buildings on the UMass Amherst campus, NAH has suffered from deferred maintenance, has lacked ADA-mandated accessibility, and has languished in need of significant upgrades. At a building manager’s meeting in 2008 the Du Bois Department chair asked about the “renew & reinvest status” of NAH and how long before the planned reinvestment would occur. In a subsequent meeting with the vice chancellor for facilities he asked about the future of NAH. In AY2008-2009 needed work commenced on the roof and the building exterior.

[above] A Du Bois Department Office in New Africa House, ca. 1970?  http://www.library.umass.edu/speccollimages/referenceimages/RG150-0004797.png

The Du Bois Department has historically and, even now, continues to use all useable parts of the building. Faculty offices and the department’s main office is located on the 3rd floor, along with two seminar rooms, and a classroom that seats a maximum of 46 students. The elevator installation plan   will take one faculty office and will result in the creation of a faculty/staff lounge as well as male and female restrooms. On the 4th floor is where we are most concerned that NAH be upgraded. We need for that floor to accommodate offices for our graduate teaching assistants, a graduate student resource center/communal area, and space for departmental research programs and activities.

We are concerned about the plans of the Office of Student Affairs & Campus Life has for the south end of the 4th floor. Student RSOs have held space there and reports of past misuse of these spaces does concern us. The 2nd floor houses CCEBMS offices and Reading Room 203, the Shirley Graham Du Bois Library. CCEBMS and the Du Bois Department enjoy a good working relationship and we very much enjoy the ability to use Reading Room 203 for meeting and events where the attendance does not exceed 125 persons.

The Du Bois Department also has had a good working relationship with the Fine Arts Center’s Augusta Savage Gallery. We have also used the Gallery for events where the art exhibit there is the theme of or compliments the planned event. In the past the basement has served as classroom and workspace for faculty members. Before the current construction we have been in discussion with Dance faculty and student groups about their fixing up and using the space for tap and other classes. The present construction work has put an end to those discussions and rehab efforts.

Given the current upgrade work and the opportunity to bring NAH up to fully meeting the needs of the department we hereby request the following:

1. Painting 3rd floor classrooms, seminar rooms, and offices; all of our 4th floor rooms

2. Window shades/treatments in various rooms

3. New carpet in various carpeted areas

4. Renovating room 411 into a multipurpose area for faculty research and activities and room 418 into a multipurpose area for graduate students (communal PC station with internet connectivity, printer and supplies, sofa, chairs, mailboxes, etc.)

5. Offices for graduate teaching/research assistants/associates (for about 20-25 students)

6. Replacement of decrepit office furniture and chairs

7. Air conditioning in all our rooms

We look forward to working with you and relish the chance to provide you with additional information about our plans and needs.

MEMO #1 goes out and there is no word back to us from official channels, but the rumors persist. By one account the Du Bois Department might be leaving NAH or certainly was going to have much less space in the building than it had before the renovation work. Word was that NAH would return to its original name of Mills House after 40 years as New Africa House! I tried to put these comments out of my mind but upon pushing my dean about what was happening I was told to write another memo. What was wrong with the first one? I was not told anything was lacking in the first one, but this memo should stress what our numbers are and our plans over the next 3-5 years in terms of growth and activities. So I write another memo:

MEMORANDUM

TO:     Joel Martin, CHFA Dean; Ron Michaud, CHFA Associate Dean
FR:      Amilcar Shabazz, Chair
DA:     March 5, 2010
RE:      New Africa House Building Use Plan & Needs Going Forward Round II

In this memo I will update the summary report and request for assistance I made in a 23 October 2009 memo to Ron Michaud. The work to install an elevator and other building code upgrades is long overdue. It provides us now with the opportunity to look anew at our space needs in New Africa House (NAH) and to think about the department’s development over the next three to five years. With my department members already dispersed all across the campus and enduring great hardships during this renovation period, it is disheartening in the extreme to hear rumors about the future of NAH which are totally at odds with our understanding of things when discussion of this project began a year ago. To do our part to make sure the future of our department’s academic space is not being considered without our viewpoint I again take the opportunity to state our view.

Some history of the department’s space and any prevailing issues

The Du Bois Department has been the primary caretaker of NAH since the former dormitory Mills House was converted from residential/student space into academic/faculty space. The document “PLANNING FOR THE 1980’s: A Status Report Submitted by The Department of Afro-American Studies” gives an account of how this came about: “One day in Spring of 1969, a gang of ‘frat boys’ chased several black students to their dormitory. When the students secured themselves behind a locked door, the fraternity gang left, vowing to gather an even larger number and return to ‘do battle’ …[soon] more black students joined those in the house and what began as a defense tactic on the part of harassed black students was blown into a full-fledged building take-over reminiscent of those taking place over the nation–demands and all. For days after, UMass joined the nation in having ‘black militants’ take over a building.” (http://www.umass.edu/afroam/planning.html). One result of the “take-over” is that Mills the dorm was closed and, after some work of adaptive conversion, NAH the multipurpose/classroom/gallery/office building was created. Over the past forty years, like many buildings on the UMass Amherst campus, NAH has suffered from deferred maintenance, has lacked ADA-mandated accessibility, and has languished in need of significant upgrades. When the new department chair arrived in 2007, he was informed that his office could not be painted without having to do asbestos abatement which would be a major, expensive project. At a building manager’s meeting in 2008 the Du Bois Department chair asked about the “renew & reinvest status” of NAH and how long before the planned reinvestment would occur. In a subsequent meeting with the vice chancellor for facilities he asked about the future of NAH. In AY2008-2009 needed work commenced on the roof and the building exterior. In November 2009, work began on the elevator and fire safety system installation and classes relocated.

What changes have occurred over the years and affects upon the dept’s operation & space?

The Du Bois Department has historically and, even now, continues to use all useable parts of the building. Faculty offices and the department’s main office is located on the 3rd floor, along with two seminar rooms, and a classroom that seats a maximum of 46 students. Through scheduling by the CCEBMS program on the 2nd floor we regularly use room 203 (the Shirley Graham Du Bois Reading Room) for lectures, events, etc. with an expected attendance above 60 persons. On the first floor we use the classrooms for our courses with smaller enrollments as well as the Augusta Savage Gallery, a multicultural and multiarts facility named in honor of renowned sculptor Augusta Savage and founded in 1970 by the Du Bois Department. On the 4th floor and in the basement we have used the spaces for studio classes in the plastic arts, music, and performance studies. By the end of the 1990s the department had phased out of teaching such classes as faculty retired or migrated over to other departments by the prodding of the CHFA dean. Finally, in conjunction with The CCEBMS and OIT, the department founded and provided leadership to a computer lab on the fourth floor that was open Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. It was called the Benjamin Banneker Computer Lab. The support for staffing and upgrading the lab ended at some point when the University chose to no longer support such satellite centers as laptops became more common and the Du Bois Library created its popular Learning Commons. As these program changes occurred and in the face of deferred maintenance these spaces have languished with little use. The creation of the Ph.D. program and the Scholars of the 21st Century grant-funded initiative, later renamed the Program for Undergraduate Mentoring & Achievement (PUMA) created new space needs for GTA/PUMA Mentor offices. The development of visiting professorships is another new area of space need.

Inventory of current designated space

The Burt Hill Study dated 12/03/2009 reported the following:

There are some inaccuracies with the above inventory of Du Bois Department space that require correction. The Burt Hill Study attributes to us a faculty office in room 419, two graduate student offices in rooms 421 and 423, and department storage in rooms 115 and 115A. On the date of their survey we were using those offices for a visiting professor (Michael McEachrane) and two students in the advance stage of writing their dissertations (Anthony Ratcliff and Christy Tondeur), as well as storage for department archives (especially files of the award-winning DRUM magazine and art work by former professor Nelson Stevens). These spaces are actually allocated to the Capitol Asset Board (or to the Fine Arts Center). These spaces amount to 888 square feet and if subtracted from the 6,297 square feet the Study gave as our Total–Existing square feet area, then our total drops to 5,409 SF which puts the Department below the 5,500 SF recommended “Right Size.” That sizing is more or less consistent with our current faculty and student numbers, but it is slightly below our projected size.

What spaces have/will be lost due to renovations?

The elevator installation plan will take one faculty office on the 3rd floor and will take our ground floor mailroom and storage space.

Alternate plan to recouping lost space

The aforementioned space losses make it essential that we not lose additional square footage. We will critically need space on the 4th floor, especially as we proceed to achieve our faculty and student growth projections. We admit an average of five students a year to our Ph.D. program. The average time of completion is about seven years. Thus, at any point in time we have approximately 35 active doctoral students. We currently have about 15 majors, but we project an average of 30 majors over the next five years. Finally, it is our goal to stabilize our core faculty at 12 tenure system members over the next five years. We would like all our faculty members to have offices on the 3rd floor with the 4th floor reserved for offices for our GTAs, dissertation writers (ABDs), lecturers, emeritus/a professors, visiting scholars, as well as a graduate student center, and a research and production digital resource center. Details are provided below.

Condition of current spaces occupied and needs, i.e., painting, sprucing up, etc.

We are pleased that renovations will result in the creation of a faculty/staff lounge as well as both male and female restrooms on all floors. We are, however, most concerned that NAH be upgraded in some other critical areas. We need for that floor to accommodate offices for our graduate teaching assistants, a graduate student resource center/communal area, and space for departmental research programs and activities.

We are concerned about the plans of the Office of Student Affairs & Campus Life has for the south end of the 4th floor. Student RSOs have held space there and reports of past misuse of these spaces does concern us. The 2nd floor houses CCEBMS offices and Reading Room 203, the Shirley Graham Du Bois Library. CCEBMS and the Du Bois Department enjoy a good working relationship and we very much enjoy the ability to use Reading Room 203 for meeting and events where the attendance does not exceed 125 persons.

Condition of unutilized space, reasons spaces are not occupied (repairs needed, funding issues, etc.), describe your plan for how this space will be used within your operation, i.e,. Grad Resource Center, TA offices, etc., add any required renovations

Plans for renovating space if funding were available (replace tile floor not included in elev project, etc., refurbish offices, etc.)

New space needs that cannot be found within the departments current designated space

The Du Bois Department also has had a good working relationship with the Fine Arts Center’s Augusta Savage Gallery. We have also used the Gallery for events where the art exhibit there is the theme of or compliments the planned event. In the past the basement has served as classroom and workspace for faculty members. Before the current construction we have been in discussion with Dance faculty and student groups about their fixing up and using the space for tap and other classes. The present construction work has put an end to those discussions and rehab efforts.

We look forward to working with you and relish the chance to provide you with additional information about our plans and needs.

MEMO #2 goes out and there is no word back to us from official channels, even as I begin to learn that changes to the work in the building are underway. Our classrooms on the first floor are being changed into offices for the Everywoman’s Center. One classroom I put considerable time into getting IT resources into one classroom (under the Classroom Improvement Project [CIP IT]—Adding Instructional Technology to UMass Amherst Classrooms program only to find that the LCD projector had been ripped out of the ceiling. So now I am infuriated and sick of writing memos, but after going directly to the offices of people who are in charge I follow up with another memo:

MEMORANDUM

Date: May 8, 2010

To: Vice Chancellor Joyce M Hatch & Associate VC Juanita M. Holler, Admin & Finance
Cc: Provost James Staros, CHFA Dean Joel Martin, Faculty & Staff of the Du Bois Department
From: Amilcar Shabazz, Department of Afro-American Studies
Re: Summary of Discussion Concerning New Africa House

This memorandum offers a summary of our discussion concerning New Africa House (NAH) that took place on Friday, May 7, 2010. The meeting began with my summary of how I learned on April 30th, of a plan which would reduce Afro-Am’s existing space allocation in NAH from 6,297NSF to 3,826NSF. I explained how I have worked over the past year to determine and articulate the current and projected academic needs of the department and was disappointed to see a plan that so grossly fails to respond to our stated needs for facilities and space on the UMass Amherst campus.

The space reduction plan, moreover, is based on erroneous information about the department and our academic space needs. The calculation in the summary of proposed space (2211) has inaccurate information about our current count and reaches a “wrong-sized” sum of 3,775NSF as all that we need to operate. In the fall of 2010, we expect to have 21 (not 11) graduate employees in need of work space. Also, we will need ten faculty offices (not 8), and an office for our senior lecturer who carries departmental and university duties that does not allow him to have a small (75NSF) office that he shares with another lecturer. Over the next 3 to 5 years we expect to grow in size, activities, and projects that make the proposed plan of limiting us to the 3rd floor of NAH untenable. As I have stated in previous memos, we agree to the Burt Hill Study’s right-size for us of 5,500NSF.

Finally, we discussed the importance of maintaining NAH as an academic space, particularly one that is connected to the study of the history and culture of African peoples in the U.S. and across the globe. NAH as a site of UMass’s black heritage should not be discarded due to momentary exigencies. At the Faculty Senate meeting of December 15, 2009, I “underscore[d] the importance of being careful to preserve some of the great traditions of the campus as we look at maintenance, renovation, and improvement of some of our existing buildings….This is a good campus, and there are traditions in terms of where people have been placed and how people have worked together in some of these facilities. We should try to build upon those traditions and not displace or gentrify or create problems in the community” (Minutes, p. 14 at http://www.umass.edu/senate/fs/minutes/2009-2010/690TH_MINUTES_121509.pdf). From the Hills House closure we should try to place units into NAH that dovetail with Afro-Am and the Augusta Savage Gallery. We discussed the Center for the Study of African American Language as an example of a better fit with us. Also, the need to retain classrooms on the 1st floor was discussed. The department is relieved to know that this proposal is not “finalized” and welcomes the chance to get a plan in place that best serves our students and the campus itself, while preserving the building’s historic identity. NAH has housed the Afro-American Studies Department for nearly the entirety of its forty years on the UMass campus. We have plans to celebrate that heritage and look forward to working with you to make it a great year.

It is August now and Fontaine Bros. are in the final stages of the renovation work.  I have no final word back from anyone as to what is to happen to New Africa House. Here is our plan:

MEMORANDUM

TO:     Afro-American Studies Faculty & Graduate Employees
CC:      Joel Martin, CHFA Dean; Ron Michaud, Assoc. Dean; Joanne Dolan, Facilities Coord.
FR:      Amilcar Shabazz, Chair
DA:     July 11, 2010
RE:      New Africa House Building Use Plan & Needs Going Forward Round III

The effort to renew and reinvest in New Africa House (NAH) through the installation of an elevator and other building code upgrades is nearly complete. I do not know what is being done relative to our corrections and response to the space allocation plan for NAH that facilities & planning finally shared with us last month. Since the “Hills Meeting” with Bryan, Jim, Pam, Tom, and Ron on June 21, at Facilities Planning, I have received only one email (on 7/7/10) from Pamela Rooney, Asst. Dir. Space & Asset Management, and it was in regards to a minor request we made regarding the renumbering of our offices—turning us down. Indeed, work has proceeded on the 1st floor of NAH according to the new plan that takes away our classrooms and puts the Everywoman’s Center (Rape Crisis and Violence Prevention Services, Information and Support Services, and Administrative Staff) in those rooms. I have forestalled an effort to remove the painting of Amilcar Cabral from New Africa House. I also have written asking for an update on the response to our corrections and concerns. I will update you as soon as I can.

On a more positive level the completion of the renovation work is providing us with a pretty spiffy looking building. We have begun to organize a Grand Reopening of New Africa House and it is tentatively set for Thursday afternoon, September 8th, during the first week of classes. Please get in contact with me or Tricia to help organize this event.

I am working with Tricia, Deby Lee from facilities, and some graduate students we’ve employed to put our 3rd floor back together. We have a huge amount of work to get done. Our classroom in 311 contains department and specific faculty items that were stored on the 1st and 4th floors, along with items from the old grad lounge. The new lounge is nice, but is not exclusively ours. We may put graduate student mailboxes in there, but that is not ideal as the lounge is to be open to all the buildings occupants. Presently, the plan space & asset management has come up with puts Mental Health Services, OIT, along with the aforementioned Everywoman’s Center and other Student Affairs units. Thus, we will do our best to keep the lounge a general area and locate our graduate student mailboxes somewhere else.

We have to move ahead to put things back in place. I ask you to please “pardon out progress” or mess as it were. Where books were taken off shelves and placed in boxes, we will leave it to you to get those back on your shelves however you prefer. If you want help and arrange a time with Tricia, we will do what we can to get a student assistant to work with you. We welcome your suggestions and feedback. Below are the new floor plans we’re working from using the new numbering system.

New Floor Plans

3rd floor

Requested/Done/Being worked on for 3rd floor

1. Painting 3rd floor classrooms, seminar rooms, and offices – done except for Lounge and a few other areas

2. Window shades/treatments in various rooms – being priced/bidded for immediate installation

3. New carpet in various carpeted areas – will not be done before the start of the academic year

4. Replacement of decrepit office furniture and chairs – old wooden and broken chairs discarded

5. An adequate HVAC system for air conditioning in various rooms – pricing AC unit for main office

In connection with celebrating our 40th anniversary we are working to display framed photographs by Ed Cohen throughout NAH, particularly the 1st floor lobby. Preserving and properly displaying art work by renowned artists Nelson Stevens and Joe Sam is another pressing need.

4th floor [if our space allocation request is provided on this floor]

Offices/Multimedia Studios                        Graduate Student Center


Du Bois Department Archives               Graduate Teaching Assistants offices                                             Banneker Information Technology Center

TAO = Graduate Employees Offices

1. TAO4 Room #421?               4th year cohort (Davis/Gibson)

2. TAO5 Room #419?               5th year (Baumgartner/Fabien/Gordon)

3. TAO6 Room #423?               ABD (Caldwell/Hendrickson/Melton/Swiderski)

4. Grad Ctr    Room #418?               Graduate student mailboxes and library resources

5. Room #425?               Du Bois Department Archives & Research Center

6. BIT Center Room #411?              Shared with the CHFA Digital Humanities Initiative?

From allocation request memo

We need for the 4th floor to accommodate offices for our graduate teaching assistants, a graduate student resource center/communal area, and space for research programs, activities, and archives.

1. NAH 411 becomes IT resource center (perhaps with the CHFA Digital Humanities Initiative).

2. NAH 418 becomes a multipurpose communal area for graduate students:

communal PC station with internet connectivity, printer and supplies, sofa, chairs, mailboxes, etc.

3. NAH 425 becomes a departmental archives and research room.

4. NAH 419, 421, and 423 becomes offices for graduate employees, 4th year cohort and beyond.

5. NAH 422, 424, and 426 becomes a multimedia studio area or, if windows are replaced with walls, becomes offices for dissertation and postdoctoral scholars, retired faculty and visiting scholars.

Finally, we continue to recommend that unoccupied space on the 2nd and 4th floors be offered to the Center for the Study of African American Language and/or the Department of Social Justice Education. We also have request that the classrooms on the first floor remain classrooms and the Shirley Graham Du Bois Room remain a multipurpose reading room and a space for events with a capacity up to 100 persons. We, of course, support the Augusta Savage Gallery remaining in the building per the current plan.

SO THAT IS THE RELEVANT PAPER TRAIL (ALONG WITH THE EMBEDDED LINKS) UP TO NOW.

We ask our students, friends, and allies to stay tuned to what is going on and to support our efforts to preserve the historical character of New Africa House (NAH) as an important educational and cultural institution on the UMass Amherst campus. For the past forty years NAH has been the academic and cultural center of multicultural and social justice education and research. The building has served many students as source of strength and enlightenment as they pursue their studies. We plan to celebrate with a Grand Open House at New Africa House early in the fall semester. We close this discussion with an item from the Daily Collegian from 40 years ago:

UPDATE

The semester has started. Renovation work on the 4th floor has not been completed but the locks have been changed with the building manager–the chair of Du Bois Department–having no key that opens the doors up there. The alternative proposal we made for the use of the 1st and 4th floors was not accepted and we are asked to welcome UMass Student Affairs occupying our 1st and 2nd floors with the CWC or Center for Women & Community ( (then known as the  Everywoman’s Center) utilizing floor space for its counseling, education, and specialized services. While we fully support the work of the CWC we object to both the process through which NAH became a destination for CWC as well as question its “fit” over the long term given the current use and heritage of the building as academic space.

On the process matter it is disappointing that the chair as building manager did not learn of space in NAH being considered as available to accommodate units in Hills until late May 2010. VC Hatch talked about plans to use NAH at the May Faculty Senate meeting but no one from her shop had mentioned anything to the chair of the Du Bois Dept. The following is from the minutes of the Senate meeting:

“The last project Vice Chancellor Hatch discussed was the need to decommission Hills North and South. Vice Chancellor Hatch said she could go into a long list of why it is not financially feasible to even think about renovating the buildings. Tenants of the buildings include the School of Education, International Programs, and Mental Health Services. The largest tenant is the Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department. In order to decommission the building, we need tofind other spaces for these tenants. Vice Chancellor Hatch said she would not go into the proposals, but explained that there are proposals that are being worked on. Here (referring to slides) you can see some of the resources available. There is space in New Africa House; there could be space in Goodell; Arnold has some swing space; Middlesex has a small amount of swingspace; and we will have the whole Dickinson building after the Police move out. There is also Marks Meadow School which isbeing turned over to us by the Amherst School District. This is another resource attached to Furcolo. If we move units around, we might also potentially have some space available in the Fine Arts Center on the fourth floor. All of these are resources in play. The square footage as lined up here is not enough to totally vacate Hills. The resources available come close to providing the needed square footage so this is a project that is underway now.”

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FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS BLOG

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Digital archives on New Africa House via SCUA:

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(University Photograph Collection)  undated

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(University Photograph Collection)  undated

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(University Photograph Collection)  undated

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(University Photograph Collection)  undated

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(University Photograph Collection)  undated

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(University Photograph Collection)

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