Debate highlights future of Carnall Hall

Photo by Zac Lehr, Special toThe Morning News Charon Jenkins and Leah Potts of the Arkansas Union Society debate team take notes and go over their strategy during a debate about Carnall Hall on Wednesday.

Ethan C. Nobles, The Morning News

The fate of Carnall Hall was a topic of debate for the Arkansas Union Society on Wednesday night.

About 70 University of Arkansas students, faculty members, professors and employees turned out for the debate in the ballroom of the Arkansas Union. The debate was the first public one of the semester held by the society, which formed last fall at the university.

Carnall Hall, which is currently unoccupied and in need of repair, is the second-oldest building on campus. It was constructed 95 years ago, years after Old Main was built. Named for Ella Carnall, who was among the first woman professors at the university, the building has housed female students, classrooms and administrative offices.

Currently, Hospitality Valuation Services of Boulder, Colo., is under contract with the university to do a feasibility study to determine whether the structure should be turned into a hotel and restaurant.

Debating in favor of saving the structure were Leah Potts and Charon Jenkins, who are both UA students and members of the society. Opposing the restoration were Justin Tilley and Jackie Zihala, also UA students and members of the society.

"Our university values tradition," Potts said, explaining that such monuments as Old Main were invaluable to the college's image. "Carnall Hall is part of the historic heritage of this university."

Additionally, Potts said, the building is particularly important to the history of women, and only a handful of structures at the college have been built in honor of women. She added that the building, as a hotel and restaurant, can turn a profit for the university.

"Eventually, the building will pay for itself," she said. "What alumni wouldn't want to come back and stay there on campus during games?"

Zihala, however, argued that the value of the building as a hotel is questionable, because most visitors to Fayetteville wouldn't want to "spend the night in a college dorm." Additionally, she said, parking around the facility on the corner of Maple and Arkansas Avenue is scarce.

Tilley pointed out that the university probably wouldn't help with the parking situation as it "is in the habit of making a bunch of money off of parking tickets."

Tilley said, too, that the idea of getting a grant is not realistic, as that was tried by the entomology department in 1991 when it was interested in setting up in the hall but couldn't raise enough cash.

"They have tried to get grant money to save this building, but they couldn't get enough," Tilley explained. "So grants don't work."

State Rep. Jan Judy, D-Fayetteville, said last month that, if it is feasible to turn the structure into a hotel and restaurant, then the university can apply for a grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council by March 3 to restore the building. She added that the restoration of the building, should the university receive a grant for that purpose, could begin as early as July.

Paula Marinoni and members of the Women's Initiative to Save Carnall Hall have advocated turning the facility into a hotel to bring profit to the university and to allow students studying hotel management the opportunity to work in an on-campus "laboratory" where they can work and further their education.

Jenkins suggested that, if necessary, there is enough alumni interest to raise the $4.5 million or so that the Women's Initiative to Save Carnall Hall has stated would be necessary to restore the building.

"Whenever this university has needed money for something, we've gotten it," she said, pointing out that alumni have contributed money to restore Old Main and other structures on campus.

Potts said that the university has been successful in raising enough money to expand and renovate Razorback Stadium. That project, for which the college raised $60 million over a period of about eight months, is expected to be complete by this fall's football season.

"Don't you think we could raise just a fraction of that to save this historic building?" Potts asked rhetorically.

Zihala acknowledged that Carnall is a historical building, but there are at least 11 other historical landmarks on campus. Tilley said that Carnall does need to be honored by the university, but that could be achieved by establishing a scholarship or through some other method.

Tilley also said that hotel chains around the nation have been approached about turning the structure into a hotel, but they have all refused because the restoration would be too costly.

At the conclusion of the debate, audience members were asked to vote by voice on whether the structure should be saved, and they voted overwhelmingly to do so. There was no exact vote count taken by the society.

Information about the society is available on the Internet at www.uark.edu/campus-resources/arunion/index.html.