Dyson Renovation Will Bring Growing Pains

Marist College’s upcoming renovation of the Dyson Center, a $60 million project to rebuild the School of Management and Social and Behavioral Sciences, may cause trouble for students during the construction period.

The highly anticipated expansion project will begin in June 2022 and is scheduled to finish by early 2024. Construction on Dyson has experienced multiple delays in the last few years. The project was delayed in 2019 to further plan the renovation and again in 2020 and 2021 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

51 Fulton Street is assumed to be the new location for Dyson classes during construction. Source: Poughkeepsie Journal

Students have been eagerly awaiting the overhaul of Dyson, which has had little to no updates since it was built in 1990. 

“I’ve had a ton of classes in Dyson, and it is so outdated,” said Libby Vandal ’23. “I’m glad it’s being renovated. I think it’s really good because I know tours skip right past it.”

“It looks like a high school; it’s depressing,” said Sean Kennedy ’25, “When I erase something on my paper, the entire desk moves back and forth. The pillar on the overhang at the entrance isn’t even attached to the building.”

In Feb. 2022, President Weinman announced the approval of the $60 million renovation that would begin at the end of the academic year following commencement. Students are eager to experience the new Dyson Center; however, there is still a year and a half until the project’s estimated completion.

During renovations, it is assumed classes will move to the building at 51 Fulton Street, as indicated back in 2019. Marist has yet to confirm if this is still the case. 

51 Fulton is on the west side of campus and a much further walk than the academic buildings on the main campus.

“I heard rumors freshmen year they were doing buses to 51 Fulton and that they were changing class times so that people have more time to get to class,” said Vandal.

Students have concerns about the safety of walking to 51 Fulton for those without cars. The walk would require either crossing the road, where there is no crosswalk, at Upper Fulton or walking along Fulton Street, where there is no sidewalk.

“Thinking about the wintertime, that’s not going to be a safe walk,” said Sandra Matute ’25. 

The distance may determine how students go about registering for their classes. “I think especially for the fall semester because once winter hits, it’s going to be cold,” added Matute.

Another concern is parking. While there are no definite plans for what parking will look like next year, students are anticipating the worst.

“Parking is already a disaster, so I think it’s going to be a lot worse. Security is going to have to start being more lenient about out-of-zone parking,” said Vandal.

Parking has been a point of contention this year as the parking lots cannot accommodate the number of cars on campus. Parking for residents will most likely become more difficult if the Dyson parking lot is occupied by construction and the 51 Fulton parking lot is utilized more.

“In Lower Fulton, the parking lot is so tiny, so the overflow parking is at 51 Fulton Street. So I have no idea how that’s going to affect parking because that’s already a mess anyway,” said Delany O’Toole ’23.

The construction of the Dyson Center will be an adjustment period for students, no matter what the classroom and parking situation will look like. However, the payoff will be well worth it.

“There is really no good time to renovate it, so I’m glad it’s happening, and it might as well be now,” said O’Toole.