Uris Hall

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1980s facade of Uris Hall
Protests at Uris Hall's dedication, 1961
Uris Hall on completion in 1961, without the recently added extension on the entrance

Uris Hall houses Columbia Business School, as well as the Uris Deli and a loud library, the Business and Economics Library

There are also top secret meeting rooms there, but they're secret, so I can't write about them here. Perhaps the kind of places where one might find Bain Lehman, the bastard love-child of Merrill Stanley and JPSachs.

History

Uris Hall was built on the foundation for the never-completed University Hall. Its design was considered so ugly that architecture students picketed its dedication in 1961, holding signs reading "No More Mudds". Despite an attempted to rein in its ugliness with an addition in the 80s, it remains among the ugliest campus buildings to this day.

In an attempt to give its students their own exclusive space, the Business School set about in recent years to deter undergraduates from using the building, revoking the ability to use Dining Dollars at the deli, removing Flex capacity from the copiers, and placing the building's computers on a separate network.

Not content with these moves, the Business School has announced its intention to move to a new facility within the planned Manhattanville campus. It is unclear what will occupy Uris following the school's relocation. Demolition and replacement may be one option that would satisfy the building's architectural detractors, though it is more likely the building will be employed for some expedient use, such as academic office space. The somewhat scattered and occasionally itinerant Economics Department is a natural choice to occupy at least part of the space.

Further reading