While students take a week off for Spring Break at Laney College, the plan to relocate Laney’s administrative building, known as the Tower, has begun its first phase. According to the plan, the mailroom and IT department will be vacated by April 5. By the end of the year, the Laney Tower will be closed permanently.

During a Laney Flex day presentation on March 11 outlining the relocation plan to faculty and classified employees, Peralta Community College District Deputy Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Greg Nelson described the building as a financial “albatross,” or a burden on the district.

“In my short tenure, […] [the district has] put probably $5 million into that building and it hasn’t helped it at all,” Nelson said. 

Laney’s interim president, Becky Opsata, told The Citizen that facilities inside the Tower are in constant need of maintenance. In 2023, The Citizen found that the Tower elevators have had several severe malfunctions over the years.

The Tower houses faculty, classified employees, student resources, counselors, and administrators whose departments will be moved to different parts of campus by this coming Fall semester.

Many of these departments will share space in the Student Center, which will be closed and remodelled over the summer. The renovations, which were planned to align with the relocation project, will include a fresh paint job, new ceiling tiles, and an updated electrical system.

Relocation plan; mixed feelings

According to the Tower relocation plan, the June Steingart Art Gallery, currently located in the Tower lobby, will move off of the Laney campus entirely, and will be relocated to the district office atrium down the road at 333 E 8th Street.

The first floor of the Student Center is currently occupied by the Laney bookstore and will be divided into offices for administrators and classified employees over the summer. The bookstore will move to room A-152.

The offices of the college president and vice president of instruction will be relocated to the Eagle Village.

Learning communities Puente, Asian American Pacific Islanders LEAD, Umoja-UBAKA, and the undocumented student resource center will move to the third floor of the Student Center. The Wellness Center and the Basic Needs Center will share space on the fourth floor.

At an Associated Students of Laney College (ASLC) meeting on March 19, Laney mental health specialist Susan Yee said that she was relieved that the plan was temporary. 

“It’s not a good long term plan,” Yee said.

Bianca Ramirez, ASLC External Secretary, responded “I understand it’s not ideal, it’s not what we want. […] But also, this is what we have, and this is what we need to work with.”

Other services will be moved to the Library. The group study rooms on the third floor will be converted into offices for the counselors currently housed in the Tower. The IT Department and the Mailroom will be moved to the first floor of the library.

Andrew Skinner-Demps, the Principal Library Technician at Laney, said during an interview with The Citizen that “I don’t think there’s been much feedback asked of the professionals in the library about the Tower relocation.”

“The most pressing challenges are the resources students won’t have access to,” Skinner-Demps told The Citizen, in reference to the group study rooms. Skinner-Demps said he had yet to hear details on how students seeking group study spaces would be accommodated.

When The Citizen reached out to Opsata about these concerns, she pointed out that “All students and employees have had the opportunity to bring concerns forward, through governance and through the input solicitation survey form that was used.”

Opsata also wrote that the Library Department Chair met with their dean at the end of last week and discussed employees’ concerns about the availability of study rooms. In order to address those concerns, Opsata said she is working to schedule a meeting with their dean after Spring Break.

“The plan is a work in progress and we are making improvements as items are brought forward,” Opsata wrote.

According to Opsata, new administration and instructional buildings will be constructed in place of the tower after its demolition. A bond measure will appear on the 2028 Alameda County ballot for the construction of the new buildings.

Peralta’s executive director of marketing, communications, and public relations, Mark Johnson, wrote in an email to The Citizen that students will be kept informed of the changing layout via posts on the Laney College News webpage, newsletter emails, and “signage on A-Frames when the moves take place.”