The new Carl and Ruth Shapiro Admissions Center is scheduled for occupancy in early October, and progress has also been made over the summer on several other on-campus construction projects, said to Vice President of Capital Projects Dan Feldman in an e-mail to the Justice. Other changes on campus include the completion of the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center and the beginning stages of the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Demolition of the Kalman and Friedland Science Buildings has not yet begun, Feldman wrote in his e-mail.

Feldman wrote that improvements over the old admissions center include two larger waiting areas in order to accommodate the increasing number of visitors to the Brandeis campus and a "financial services satellite office to provide information to waiting parents and prospective students." Feldman added that the new building also included a 100-seat presentation room with state-of-the-art presentation technology. University Provost Marty Krauss said that the new presentation room, which looks out over the Shapiro Campus Center, creates a "visible link to the center of campus."

The Science Center, with a total project cost of approximately $75 million, will be fully operational in terms of classes, offices and research labs at the beginning of this academic year, according to Feldman. "There were many other components to Phase 1 of the Science Complex Renewal Project. Some of these are still in progress (e.g., renovations to selected areas in Bassine, renovations to what was the upper level of the [Gerstenzang] library, and the imminent removal of Friedland first and, later, Kalman). All of these together make up the total cost of a bit over $100 million for Phase 1 of the Science Complex Renewal Project," Feldman wrote in his e-mail.

The University began moving furniture and equipment into the Science Center late last year, and Krauss said that classes have taken place there over the summer. Krauss added that she was unsure of the status of the café that was planned for inside the center.

Feldman wrote that the current plan is to demolish the Friedland building between September and October 2009 and to raze the Kalman building between January and April 2010.

Julius Kalman's great-nephew Sumner Kalman had filed an injunction against the University on May 7 to prevent the demolition of the Kalman Science building, alleging that such an act would violate Kalman's will. The University and Sumner Kalman reached a settlement Aug. 18 that calls for the University to name a section of the new Science Center in honor of Julius Kalman.

The design of the $27 million Mandel Center for the Humanities has been completed and construction is under way, according to Feldman. The center, which will be near the North Academic Quad according to Krauss, will be made of concrete.

Feldman wrote, that the concrete pouring process will take several months and that the center should be completed in time for the beginning of the 2010 fall semester.

Feldman wrote that "Given the tight financial constraints Brandeis (like every college and university) is facing, no residence halls received major renovation this summer. Facilities Services did, however, carry on with their regular program of maintenance to residence halls.