In 1988, the University unveiled its $40 million, 108,000-square-foot Center for Information Technology. Andy van Dam, professor of computer science, told attendees at a dedication ceremony that it was “the facility to go into the next century with.”
But 36 years later, according to departmental vice chair Tom Doeppner, the department has “essentially run out of space” in the CIT.
The CS department is not alone in its struggles for classroom space. Across the University, the staff and faculty body has expanded by over 18% in the past decade, and student enrollment in that period has increased by 23%. But in that same time period, classroom and office space has only increased by 8%.
“Over the past several semesters, we have experienced an increasing demand for classroom space across all our curricular endeavors,” Provost Francis Doyle wrote in September. This demand has “placed considerable strain on our classroom facilities,” Doyle said.
Now, Brown is short on “academic space,” a shorthand for both classroom and office facilities, according to Ira Wilson, who is the associate provost for academic space. Wilson and Doyle are now overseeing a University-wide effort to study space constraints on campus.
The University is currently reviewing a report conducted by Sasaki, a design firm, on Brown’s academic space. It also plans to open a life sciences building downtown in 2027. And in October, Wilson and Doyle spoke to the Committee on Facilities and Campus Planning within the Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — on Brown’s current space needs.
But the constraints remain a problem, especially in the short term. In the CS department, for example, controversial course enrollment caps were introduced for fall 2024 in part because of the space constraints.
Vesna Mitrović, chair of the physics department, noted that there is insufficient space for the increased enrollment in physics courses — particularly in upper level courses that might now have 30 or 40 more students than in the past, she said.
The rise in course demand is “a good problem to have,” she said. But “I can see how it can be frustrating for both students and professors.”
Outgrowing the CIT
When the CS department first moved into the CIT, it was able to offer “essentially all” of its classes in the building, Doeppner said.
But now, “a good number of our classes, if not most of them, are too big for any of the classrooms in this building,” he added. The number of students enrolled in CS courses has nearly doubled since the 2014-15 academic year.
Though the department’s needs have changed over time, the building’s spaces have largely not.
The CIT’s Sun Lab has 73 built-in desktop computers and can fit up to 135 people. When it first opened, students would spend hours, if not all night, using the workstations to complete assignments.
Now, faculty say the desktops largely just take up space.
“Students don’t often work on the physically installed department computers anymore,” said Nick DeMarinis MSc’15 PhD’21, a computer science lecturer. “Everybody has their own.”
Faculty rarely need the lab’s workstation-oriented design for teaching, he added, suggesting that the space could be better used as a lecture hall.
Wilson, the associate provost for academic space, wrote that the University is working to repurpose a number of rooms on campus, including the Sun Lab, “while avoiding further encroachment on shared common areas essential to campus life.”
Wilson also named the Martinos Auditorium in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts and the third floor of the Pembroke Center as spaces they hope to repurpose.
These efforts may not be easy, Doeppner said, noting that transforming the computer lab into a lecture hall would require tearing up its concrete slab floors and realigning the rows, which are “far too deep.”
The CIT underwent interior renovations in summer 2018 that added space for labs and offices. At the time, Doeppner told The Herald that there remained a “definite need for more space.”
Today, Doeppner believes that the department either needs an entirely new building or additional space in adjacent buildings.
Graduate programs feel the pinch
As Brown considers doubling the size of its graduate student body, the constraints may only grow worse.
“Growing graduate programs will indeed increase the demand for classroom space and is factoring into our long-term capital planning process,” Wilson wrote.
The computer science department is struggling to accommodate existing enrollment and future expansion of faculty, said Malte Schwarzkopf, assistant professor of computer science.
“We are now at the point where (for) next year’s PhD students, we simply have no space to put them,” he said. Each PhD student needs a dedicated office space, where they complete work for their research group, he explained.
Any short-term adjustments they make to “squeeze in” students next year will not solve the problem, Schwarzkopf said.
“If things stay the same… that’s going to dramatically affect the department,” Doeppner said. “We won’t be able to grow any further. This will probably have some effect on how we rank with fellow computer science departments nationwide.”
With insufficient space, where do classes go?
Wilson wrote that part of the University’s “action plan” involves better matching classes to appropriately sized rooms.
“Class interest can grow a lot faster than new buildings or new rooms on campus can,” said Kestin Gussoff, assistant registrar for University scheduling. Gussoff oversees the University Scheduling Office, which is responsible for matching courses to classrooms.
“It’s a balancing act of trying to encourage people to take these classes and enjoy the programs while also being mindful of the fact that College Hill is only so big,” Gustoff explained.
Some departments also manage departmentally controlled spaces, which may include labs or classrooms that give them additional flexibility to assign their own courses to those rooms.
Meredith Hastings, who chairs the department of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences, said the space controlled by her department has mitigated the impact of University-wide space constraints.
“We’ve been told it’s (a University issue), but it’s not an issue for our department because of the way that we’re able to utilize this space that we have,” Hastings said.
The English department also has a departmentally managed classroom, wrote Danielle Adams, the department’s academic program coordinator, in a message to The Herald.
But even with the extra space, the English department has to hold classes in two small seminar rooms that “aren’t technically classrooms,” she added.
Mitrović said that in her experience, physics courses are sometimes scheduled far from Barus and Holley — where the department is located — so “everybody’s always late.” Physics courses also often feature demonstrations that require delicate equipment which cannot be moved, she added.
Within the chemistry department, space constraints led the department to open overflow rooms for CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Structure” earlier this semester. In these overflow rooms, students would watch the lecture — which was being taught live in another room — on Zoom.
Many large auditoriums on campus lack the “large amount of board space” needed to perform live derivations for the course, wrote Brenda Rubenstein ’07, associate professor of chemistry and CHEM 0330 instructor, in an email to The Herald. This lack of board space limits where most physical and mathematical sciences courses can be held on campus.
Rubenstein added that as the introductory chemistry sequence becomes more popular, lab space within the department is also becoming increasingly scarce.
“We had to come up with creative ways of making more laboratory space and most efficiently using the space we have” to make just enough room for students this semester, she wrote.
The space shortage gives the chemistry department “much less flexibility,” Lai-Sheng Wang, who chairs the department, wrote in an email to The Herald.
But, he added, “we are not unique.”
Ethan Schenker is a senior staff writer covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
Kate Rowberry is a senior staff writer at The Herald.
