UNT plan would move Sycamore Library and journalism school out of Sycamore Hall to make room for AI college

The University of North Texas is planning to empty Sycamore Hall, home to the 1937 Sycamore Library, and turn the building over to its new artificial intelligence college, according to an internal presentation reported by the student-run North Texas Daily and published Tuesday by the Denton Record-Chronicle.

The slideshow was sent to faculty of the Mayborn School of Journalism on Aug. 24, the Daily reported. It lays out what it calls a "tentative relocation plan" for the building's current occupants and an estimated price of $79 million, with $60 million of that for construction.

Who moves where

Under the plan, the College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics, formerly the College of Information and now named for Anuradha and Vikas Sinha, would take over Sycamore Hall. The building's access control room and IT data center would stay.

• The Mayborn School of Journalism would go to the General Academic Building.
• The anthropology and sociology departments, both now part of the School of Social Research and Practice, would go to the Language Building.
• Sycamore Library's collections would be split between Willis Library and the Research Collections Library near Interstate 35, on the edge of campus.

Both the General Academic Building and the Language Building would be renovated for their new tenants.

Timeline

According to the presentation, planning started last spring, and this fall is set aside to define the program and space needs. Departments and the library would leave Sycamore Hall between June 2027 and April 2028. Renovation of the hall would run from March 2027 through April 2030, when the AI college is scheduled to move in.

The slideshow says the project is meant to "reposition campus assets" in line with the university's academic priorities. It cites a goal of keeping campus buildings at a Facility Condition Index of 0.10 or lower, a measure of repair cost against replacement cost. Sycamore Library is rated 0.41 in the presentation, meaning its upkeep would run about 41% of what it would cost to replace.

The newspapers describe the library as one of two active depository collections in Texas.

Petition and no announcement yet

UNT had not issued a public announcement about Sycamore Hall when the story was published, though administrators told the Daily one is being prepared, with no date set.

A Change.org petition called "Save Sycamore Library," started by biology senior Gabriella Grimes, had drawn more than 1,000 verified signatures, the Daily reported. Grimes said she learned of the move from staff members and wants the university to be more open with students about it.

"I'm hoping this raises awareness so that more students know about it and maybe join efforts as a student body," she said.

A July post on a UNT Special Collections blog about the building's history also refers to the relocation, saying the university's Board of Regents had not yet announced plans for the site.

Sources

Denton Record-Chronicle