The second phase of the renovation of Wilder Hall is set to finish this August, with the creation of a new space for the Office of Student Leadership and Involvement, a concert sound office, and an e-sports arena. Phase three of the renovation will begin in August and will focus on the second floor, as well as spaces for WOBC-FM and the Gear Co-Op. These changes are part of a five-phase construction process that began in January 2023, which has impacted many student organizations.
As of this past Tuesday, the fourth floor of Wilder Hall is littered with boxes, metal poles, and various other construction materials. This has made it inconvenient for Oberlin’s Musical Theater Association, Student Theater Association, and Student Lighting and Sound Association, which share a small closet on the fourth floor that houses costumes, props, and various tech equipment.
“There was a picture sent in the Discord the other day of a full cart of things in front of our storage closet door,” College second-year and OMTA/OSTA board member Linnea Paul said. “I understand that we’re trying [to use] this space with a construction site. But we still need to use it. There’s dust everywhere, and some of the things that we need to do in the space [include] working with fabric, and we can’t do that in the hallway because it’s so dusty.”
WOBC, currently housed in the basement of Peters Hall following the collapse of their studio’s floor last fall, has been designated a space in Wilder that will not be ready until fall 2027, according to WOBC-FM faculty advisor and Senior Associate Dean of Students Thom Julian.
“We are excited for WOBC to be back in a permanent space, as they are an integral organization for campus involvement,” Julian wrote in an email to the Review.
The radio station has faced numerous problems since it had to leave its previous location.
“Having to move out really disrupted everything with our transmitter, so we haven’t been able to broadcast on FM,” WOBC Treasurer and College third-year Walker Prince wrote in an email to the Review. “The root cause was the construction team knocking down a load-bearing wall, which forced the transmitter to find a new location. We’ve just found one, and we’re hoping to be back on air before our summer broadcasting season.”
The transmitter is currently being worked on and is scheduled to be installed by the end of this week. Getting the transmitter working quickly is important because the radio station is currently operating on a Special Temporary Authority, which allows the station to remain off air. If WOBC-FM does not return to air by Aug. 7, they will forfeit their license to broadcast.
Students involved in WOBC-FM reported communication problems present throughout the year between the organization, facilities, and higher-ups.
“Our advisor, Thom Julian, has been absolutely amazing and is doing the best he can, but certain people on the facilities team and higher up at the school don’t treat this as a priority,” Prince wrote. “Even when it came to finding us a new space at the beginning of the year, we received no help — we had to physically walk into buildings across campus ourselves and track down empty rooms that could work as a new station.”
It has been a long journey for the radio station.
“At the end of my first year, … we were told that they would begin the construction of the new station that summer,” College third-year and next year’s Station Manager Seiami Kim-Amoda wrote in an email to the Review. “Since then, its construction has been delayed due to budgeting (and the construction accident), and the floor plan has been altered/downsized.”
The Office of Student Leadership and Involvement was moved to Daub House due to renovations and will be moved back into Wilder Hall in August. As phase three begins in August, International Student and Scholar Services and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life will move into Daub House for the next school year.
In the first phase of construction, the upgraded student mailroom and electronic locker system were created, along with conference spaces for student organizations and the Office of Disability and Access’s testing center. The second phase focused on renovating the third floor and parts of the fourth and involved creating new offices, as well as a student organization resource suite where students can come in and make physical media like posters for clubs, and an esports arena that will open in the fall of 2026.
