On June 6, a windstorm swept through Gambier, knocking a massive white oak into the northwest end of the Hill Theater. The impact destroyed the roof above the building’s stairwell, with branches piercing the theater in several other locations. The tree was removed four days later on June 10. According to Chief Operating Officer Roger Wakeman, the Division of Operations expects to have the theater operational by the beginning of the spring semester. Until then, the building will be entirely closed. The College has relocated faculty offices to Acland House and installed a perimeter fence around the theater

It took a mighty storm to topple that oak. According to the meteorological agency Weather Underground, gusts reached a peak of 50 miles per hour. The oak’s size and weight required two cranes to safely extract it from the theater. “It had to come down in multiple sections; it took some expert tree removal to get that down,” Wakeman said in an interview with the Collegian.

The windstorm’s destruction spurred a reassessment of the condition and stability of trees across campus, prompting the College to remove several damaged trees that could threaten people or structures. According to Director of Facility Operations Jeffrey McGlamery, another oak affected by the storm was removed due to structural instability and its proximity to the Hill Theater.

The College could not ascertain the full extent of the damage to the theater until the tree was removed. While the majority of the affected area is localized to the upper stairwell, the tree nevertheless destroyed enough to put the building out of commission. According to Wakeman, the route to the control booth that operates the theater is unsafe and therefore nonfunctional.

“[The Hill Theater] will not be put back exactly as it was on this reconstruction,” Wakeman told the Collegian. “We’re going to take it down to a certain level, and do what’s essentially a temporary construction to get the stair in use to bring everything functionally in use, and then we’re making some evaluation about the long-term approach to the building.”

Built in 1941, the Hill Theater is one of the older buildings on campus. Buildings like these often have outdated or deteriorating features that make repairs long, difficult and expensive. Notably, this damage to the theater exposed asbestos insulation, which was remediated over the summer.

To begin the repair process, the Division of Operations has to consider what scale of investment it wants to put into the building. This semester, the College is pursuing temporary repairs to get the theater operational again. The scale of restoration remains in the air, Wakeman explained to the Collegian: “If we want to keep this building in the range of five years, we would do a certain amount of additional renovations and repairs. But if we want to preserve it really for the long term, which would be like a 50-year life cycle renewal, there’s a lot of work that needs to happen in that building.”