Cherry Hall, one of WKU’s most “iconic” academic buildings, according to WKU’s website, will undergo its first major renovation in 50 years, beginning this summer. Cherry is planned to reopen in 2027. For many students and faculty, the long-awaited renovation is both welcome and bittersweet.
Jane Fife, professor and director of the WKU Writing Center, said that when she was first informed of the Cherry renovations, she was skeptical.
“At first I was like, it doesn’t need it,” Fife said. “But then I started to notice, there are lots of things it really kind of needs.”
The WKU community was invited to Cherry for an open house on May 1. During this time, renovation information was released, including the building renderings. The renderings faced intense backlash on social media.
According to information published by the WKU Archives, Cherry was constructed in 1937. It was constructed on the former site of Potter College for Young Ladies, a former all-women’s college. The land was sold to the State Normal School, now known as WKU.
Fife said the building is in need of updates. However, she still appreciates some of the historical aspects, like the transoms over the doors that were once used for ventilation.
Additionally, freshman professional writing major Toby Deubber said Cherry’s bathroom stalls are uncomfortably narrow. He said you can see over the tops of many of the stall doors and there are only mixed gender bathrooms in the basement.
“I will often completely avoid using the bathrooms in Cherry at all,” Deubber said. “Even if I have to go out of my way, because they’re just not good.”
Deubber said he was a part of a small group of students who were able to share their thoughts with the architects designing the renovation. An increase in collaborative study spaces was a key point of discussion.
Fife said she began working at WKU in 2003 and is originally from Louisville. She decided to teach at WKU to be closer to family and where many first-generation students attend. She said her classes have been taught in Cherry the majority of the time that she has worked here.
Kaylee ben Yosef, a graduate assistant in the English department, said she came to WKU in 2020 after transferring from Morehead State University. Ben Yosef said that she transferred due to the coronavirus pandemic, the relationships at WKU between students and faculty and the publication opportunities, like the Goldenrod Writing Festival.
“They had more events and opportunities for publication and opportunities for undergraduate conferences and stuff like that,” ben Yosef said. “I felt like they just did a lot more of interacting with their students and giving them the chance to function more as academic scholars, rather than just students.”
Ben Yosef said the experiences she had at WKU inspired her to become an English professor after she graduates. However, when ben Yosef imagined her future as a professor, she always imagined teaching in Cherry.
“I would stick around even with the change to Cherry, but I think I always envisioned myself being a professor in this building,” ben Yosef said. “I have had experience having my own office in Cherry, and teaching in Cherry, and everything. The fact that it’s going to be different than the way I always envisioned it breaks my heart.”
Cherry has not undergone a major renovation since 1973, according to WKU’s website. This means that the building doesn’t have some of the newer qualities that some other buildings on campus have. However, Fife said that what it lacks in modern features it makes up for with charm.
Graduate assistant ben Yosef said she has worries that Cherry might lose some of its historical appeal during the renovation.
“A lot of people will come into Cherry Hall and kind of complain that it doesn’t look as fancy as Ogden, or it doesn’t have the new renovations that the Commons does,” ben Yosef said. “But I think in looking older, in looking like it’s a worn out shoe, it really puts you in the mindset that this is the place to study history. This is the place to study English literature from dead guys that have been dead for hundreds of years.”
Trish Jaggers, an associate English professor at WKU, said despite the aging facade, she sees the character the building has.
“Especially when you’re looking at the arts and humanities. You’re thinking about theater, You’re thinking about English and you’re thinking about literature,” Jaggers said. “It doesn’t beg to be pristine and new. It doesn’t want to squeak. If it does, it’s because the engines’ hinges need oiling. They’re old, and that’s the kind of noise they want to make.”
While many faculty members agree that some aspects of Cherry need updating, ben Yosef said she has concerns. She said there has been a lack of communication from the university over the renovation plans.
“I don’t know that there has been a really easy way to communicate what we want to preserve about Cherry and what we’re OK with changing,” ben Yosef said.
Jaggers said she feels that the faculty has been kept out of the loop.
“The very people who are going to be affected the most are totally in the dark,” Jaggers said. “It’s like you live in an apartment building, and it’s going to be remodeled and nobody knows what to look forward to. Am I going to lose space? Am I going to lose my apartment?”
As renovations draw nearer, faculty are preparing for the imminent transition to Grise Hall. The university is giving each professor 10 boxes that the university will transport, Fife said.
Faculty have also been asked not to fill the boxes with too many books, or they will be too heavy. Fife said that professors are in charge of moving all other belongings out of Cherry themselves. University administration told faculty to move out their belongings by May 30.
“We’re going to have to lose part of our summer moving stuff to our homes, to our spare bedrooms, to our basements, to our barns,” Jaggers said.
Jaggers said she would have to pay out of pocket for someone to help her move out of her office.
Ben Yosef said that she is cautiously optimistic about the Cherry renovations.
“I hope that it’s torn down with love and respect and with an optimistic view of the future,” ben Yosef said. “I hope that this renovation goes really well and doesn’t lose the spirit of Cherry. Just because you put on a different set of clothes doesn’t mean that you’re not the same person on the inside.”