Recent renovations in the Social and Behavioral Sciences building will render the building useless, leaving students and teachers alike displaced across campus.

Jan. 27 marked the day construction on the building began, in spite of an initially earlier start date over winter break. According to UNC Wilmington Vice Provost and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Stephen McFarland, the process is ongoing and details of the project are not available.

All classes and activities in the SBS building have been moved to several other buildings on campus. The building usually houses classes for programs like anthropology, criminal justice, math, pre-engineering and sociology. The SBS building will not be ready for use until the end of the fall semester of this year.

Eleanora Reber, associate professor of archaeology and chair of the UNCW Anthropology Department, claimed the move was difficult on those within her field even though renovations were anticipated.

“Oh yeah, it was a circus. I would say that the major effect on us was a lot of the things we would do in the fall semester like socializing and meeting with students all turned into packing. The archaeology labs were affected because the back of the lab turned into a shed. There is not an easy way to move in a stuff intensive kind of field,” Reber said.

Students, who once had a majority of their classes in one building, now find themselves walking across campus to reach their classroom before the allotted 10 minute grace period. Dalton McGuire, a criminal justice major, said this move has had more of an impact on his other classmates.

“My criminal justice class was moved to the Teaching Laboratory building and my psychology class is also in TL building as well. So I don’t have to trek across campus between classes. But I know many peers who have to go from Bear Hall to the TL building in 10 minutes to make it to class, and that’s unfortunate for them,” McGuire said.

Midori Albert, a forensic anthropologist, claims the move has not affected the students in a sense of grades. However, classrooms feel displaced as a whole.

“Having faculty offices moved and separated from our labs and just being without a real building may cause a sense of displacement. But, I think our good attitude with the understanding that everything will be much improved, keeps all of this moving business positive,” Albert said.

According to the Social Behavior Building Renovations relocation list on the UNCW Academic Affairs website, sociology and criminology classes have been moved into McNeill Hall and will permanently reside in Bear Hall. All anthropology classes have moved into trailers. Despite the move to a smaller area, Reber remains positive that this year will still be as productive as any other.

“We are pretty back into the swing of things. I wouldn’t want to stay here but it’s good for one or two years. But really, it is much nicer than I thought it would be,” Reber said.