Cover Story

by Benjamin Tertin

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School Increases Safety,
Destroys White Hall

The demolition of White Hall required two weeks and cost approximately $200,000, including an $1,800 demolition permit from the City of Portland
-- Gina Neal, photo

During the summer, Northwest Demolition & Dismantling reduced White Hall to rubble.

Although the city never condemned the building, President Daniel Lockwood said that continuing to use White Hall as a dormitory "was simply too big a risk in terms of the lives of people on campus."

Under the crushing jaws of a trackhoe, the building that had housed college students since 1952 met its end.

One year ago, the school's insurance provider suggested that Multnomah consider seismic insurance to cover potential losses resulting from a major earthquake.

Dr. Lockwood said that while researching the cost of such coverage, the school discovered that White Hall's u-shaped design would be a structural disadvantage in the event of a major quake. Also, the building -- classified as "unreinforced masonry" -- relied on support beams set in brick niches to secure the second level and the roof. Only gravity anchored those beams.

"In a quake those [beams] would all pull out, and the floors would collapse," Dr. Lockwood said.

In May the board of trustees voted to close White Hall for at least the fall semester, pending construction cost estimates for reinforcing the building to "life safety" status. Dr. Lockwood said that life safety does not suggest that a building will stand during an earthquake. "It means that it won't just fall flat immediately," he said. "There will be enough time for people to escape."

Robert Gray Partners Inc., the contractor that constructed the Aldrich dorms, Travis-Lovitt Hall, Goodrick-Spencer apartments and Joseph C. Aldrich student center, estimated the cost to strengthen White Hall to life safety status would have exceeded $1.9 million.

So the board voted to demolish White Hall, and it rushed the project because possession of an empty building, legally termed an "attractive nuisance," would have created high liability issues for the school.

Multnomah's executive director of facility services, Lloyd Helm, said Multnomah's full-time student and staff maintenance employees prepared the building for elimination by removing reusable items such as bathroom fixtures, light fixtures, furniture and appliances and by severing the dorm's electric, water and sewer services.

"We saved the two urns from the north and southwest back corners of the building," Mr. Helm said. "If another building goes there, we might try to incorporate [the urns] into that construction, but we don't know for sure." He also said that some employees saved bricks as mementos from the old dorm.

Dr. Lockwood said that the administration and board are considering options for new construction at the vacant White Hall site.

"We're going to need more office space as our college programs grow. Would this be a good site to build something like that? [The demolition] opens up some new options for us," he said.

Meanwhile, students scheduled to live in White Hall have been relocated to vacant rooms in the Memorial and Aldrich dorms along with four campus houses along Pacific Street -- two reserved for men, two for women.

Student services office manager Christy Martin said that two of the four White Hall resident assistants will continue with their positions, but each will serve the Pacific Street dorm houses. She said the other two RAs are now titled "commuter assistants" and will serve Multnomah's commuting students.

Jay Benson, a former White Hall RA who lived in White Hall for two years, will serve as one of the new "commuter assistants" this year. He said that, aside from the men's late-night hallway golf tournaments, "the biggest loss is the unique link between men and women who shared White Hall; you don't find that same sense of community between Memorial and Aldrich."

But the physical safety of Multnomah's students was the greatest concern in the case of White Hall.

Dr. Lockwood said: "I think that the board took a stand that wasn't to their economic advantage; we are going to lose revenue. But the board members did what they thought was right, and I supported the decision. I'm proud of them."

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