In its heyday, 3 Library Lane was the home of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and one of the most imposing
residential structures on the Union campus.
Today, after two years of planning and construction, the building has recovered the grandeur of its early days, and on June 15, it was dedicated as the Grant Hall Admissions Center, named in honor of William R. Grant '49, whose gift made the renovation possible.
President Roger Hull; David Chapnick '59, chairman of the board; and Dan Lundquist, vice president for admissions and financial aid, expressed delight at creating an admissions building that is, as the president said, “second to none.” Added
Lundquist, “It's a pleasure to think of what a great impression this will
create for our many visitors.”
In his remarks, Grant said, “Having my name on a campus building is an honor indeed. But as I told Roger when I committed to the gift, if a few years hence the College can activate another contributor, don't be embarrassed about changing the name again. My commitment is to the College, not to a building. I'm a strong believer that every alumnus has an obligation to one's predecessors and institutions of historical personal influence. We may not like all the changes that subsequently occur, but that doesn't obviate a responsibility to support
your selection of Union as part of the private sector education.”
Today's visitors to 3 Library Lane will see a building that, from the front, looks much the way it did when it was used by Alpha Delta Phi. Painted a pale yellow, with a gracious porch and large windows, the building sits at a busy crossroads near the Payne Gate entrance to campus. Inside, however, fraternity décor has been transformed into an airy and open welcoming center. Two dozen admissions and financial aid staff members, accustomed to cramped quarters and little storage space in Becker Hall, now have three full floors, with additional work and storage areas in the basement. All told, the office's space goes from about 7,000 square feet in Becker Hall to 12,000 square feet.
The beginnings
Although the first fraternity at Union appeared in 1825, it took nearly seventy years before a fraternity had its own residence house on campus.
Those early fraternities met in dormitories and later established the custom of holding dinner meetings in Schenectady hotels and taverns. By the late nineteenth century, several fraternities had permanent meeting rooms in downtown Schenectady, and several had created fraternity eating clubs, usually meeting at boarding houses.
Finally, in 1892, Psi Upsilon built its own residence house on campus –nearly twenty years after the trustees had voted to allow fraternities to build on the college side of Union Avenue. Three years later, work began on a new home for Alpha Delta Phi, which had been established in 1859. The building was completed by Commencement in 1898, at a cost of $19,332. All told, nine fraternities built houses on campus in the twenty-five years after Psi Upsilon opened.
For the first 125 years of the fraternity system, the College built no dormitories (at one point, in 1910, there were 110 students living in fraternity houses and 99 in dormitories). Beginning in 1950 (with West College), the College began to
add new residence halls. Today, about 1,700 of the College's 2,000 full-time
undergraduates live on campus – some 330 in Greek housing, 170 in theme houses, and the remainder in independent residence halls.
Upgrading admissions
As the College's admissions efforts gained momentum in the 1990s, it became
increasingly obvious that Becker Hall simply wasn't big enough. In 1991, for
example, admissions held one fall open house and one accepted candidates day in
the spring; within half a dozen years that had grown to two fall open houses, two open houses just for high school juniors, and three accepted candidates day, with individual interviews and group information sessions offered six days a week. Similarly, the number of responses to admissions mailings doubled, and the increased activity meant that boxes of recruiting material lined the hallways because of inadequate storage.
Lundquist, who often visits the colleges with which Union competes for students, said that he was struck by how poorly Union “shows” against its peers. “Our outgrown, cluttered facility was not conveying a message of quality,” he said. “In fact, we had people waiting in their cars for campus tours.”
In 1996, a Campus Planning Advisory Committee was established, and in 1997, the group (comprising three students, four faculty, and two staff members) recommended that the Admissions Office relocate to the Alpha Delta Phi building. Committee members visited several colleges with which Union competes for students, such as Hamilton and Trinity, and concluded that Union clearly needed a building that would have the location, size, and attractiveness to say “tradition” and
“excellence” to visitors.
Initial reaction from many fraternity members was dismay and anger, and representatives of the College and the fraternity entered into extended negotiations. On October 1, 1998, the fraternity agreed to relocate to Fero House, and the College agreed to complete necessary building modifications to accommodate the
fraternity's residential and social needs. During Commencement Weekend in 1999, departing fraternity members caused extensive damage to the building and, after an investigation, the College placed the fraternity on probation. Members of the fraternity will move into Fero House this fall.
Work on Grant Hall got under way last October. Nearly everything in the building except the walls and the roof was old, inoperable, or failed to meet current codes (even some floor joists had to be replaced or strengthened). An addition that contained the kitchen and some bedrooms was removed and replaced with a new addition that matches the architecture of the original building, right down to the cornices. An elevator was added, the two fireplaces in what is now the reception area were spruced up, and there is a new stairway from basement to third floor. After nearby parking space is rearranged to eliminate cars on Library Lane, the Grant Hall Admissions Center will frame the Nott Memorial and provide a dramatic new look to the campus's main entryway.
As for Becker Hall, it is about to become the center of a good deal of the student advising that happens on campus. Moving in will be the Career Development Center as well as several faculty members who advise students on graduate and professional schools and graduate honors and fellowships.