Recent construction projects have been a hot topic of conversation for all Cornellians alike. Whether it’s posting memes on Sidechat or listing day-to-day grievances with friends, this irritation is inescapable. What projects are currently going on at Cornell?
Most notably, Cornell’s headlining clock tower, McGraw Tower, has been under construction since the summer of 2023. According to an article published by the Cornell Chronicle in March 2024, construction was expected to be completed by November 2024. However, the tower is wrapped in scaffolding as of April 2025. While it is understandable that a building over 130 years old needs renovations to remain safe and stable, the time frame on this project feels excessively long.
The main issues with the project include the restriction of pedestrian traffic between the Arts Quad and Ho Plaza due to a fenced area utilized for construction purposes stretching across the entire walkway. Already having tight schedules, students have found the roadblock to be a severe inconvenience. In a school with one of the best engineering programs in the world, the students are left confused as to why there aren’t plausible alternatives to blocking off such a large plot. For example, New York City uses covered walkways with scaffolding to keep popular walk routes open for general use. Furthermore, many seniors’ graduation pictures in front of the clock tower will be ruined due to the ongoing construction
Adding to the frustration, McGraw Hall is also under construction. With an $110 million budget, the building is set to be completed by 2028. This project is not only wreaking havoc by creating impenetrable barriers for students to get to class, but also requires the history department to be moved far from Central Campus. The department is now located in an old frat house on West Campus, creating a longer and more discouraging walk for students. This can decrease their motivation to attend classes, show up to office hours, and visit professors.
However, Cornelians on the field hockey team may have been hit the hardest by the ongoing projects. After having the home field ripped out of the ground, the team’s events have been relocated to the town of Ithaca, somewhere along Game Farm Road. In order to implement this change, Cornell will have to fund the development of improved parking lots and various amenities to compensate for the average 150 attendees of the school’s field hockey games. While many suggested the team could utilize the Ramin room, an indoor field in Bartels Hall, it does not meet the NCAA standards for home games.
These changes are not permanent, however, since the University began the construction of the Meining Fieldhouse, which is expected to be completed by the summer of 2026. This project encompasses an indoor practice, competition, and recreation space for varsity, club, and intramural sports teams. It will act as a multi-use facility that can function as men’s and women’s lacrosse fields, a football field, and an indoor soccer training surface. This presumably includes a space for the field hockey team to practice and host home games. Though these changes will provide long-term benefits, it is important to consider their immediate impacts. Potential recruits may be deterred from joining the team due to the relocation of the field. This is especially emphasized due to the lack of warning given to Marsha Dodson (who contributed significant funds to its construction) about the changes. While removing a field to establish a much better one is not inherently wrong, the methodology and actions by the University raise unnecessary controversy.
Though mostly finished, residents of Balch Hall also dealt with disruptions to their Cornell experiences. Waking up to loud drills, clanging, and various other sounds, many of the women staying in the dorm suffered from constant sleep deprivation at the beginning of the school year.
Other buildings under construction and foregoing renovations include Atkinson Hall on 350 Tower Road which is intended to be used as a research facility for various subjects ranging from cancer to sustainability, the Cornell Plant Science Building on 236 Tower Road, Tang Hall on Hollister Drive, and Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science Building located on 127 Hoy Road.
Cornell gets funding from various sources such as private donations, state funding, the SUNY Construction Fund, their endowment, Capital Budget, grant and contract revenue, and indirect cost recovery sourced from sponsors of research. Private donors are donating remarkable sums of money, funding the majority of the McGraw renovations.
Additionally, Duffield Hall was given a $100 million commitment by Cornell’s College of Engineering alumni, David Duffield. Originally built in the 2000s, Duffield Hall is a research and teaching facility for nanoscale science and engineering. This project is expected to be completed by 2027 and has brought much excitement to the various engineering students at Cornell. They appreciate the upcoming expansion of Duffield and Phillips Hall.
It is important to be grateful for the generosity of Cornell’s alumni, as well as the various other financial sources fueling these projects, especially in a time when many colleges across the nation are shutting down due to financial instability. However, it is also important to consider the implications of these construction programs. Students at Cornell are becoming increasingly frustrated with blocked pathways, and potential Cornellians may be put off on their tours by the scaffolding mess and barriers ruining the campus aesthetic. Not to mention the alienation of the history department and field hockey team, who are most impacted by these changes. While Cornell students can (and should) be appreciative of the generous donors using their own money to improve the university they attend, it is not to say that it does not come without some serious disruptions to life at Cornell.
