Instead of sitting in a print shop class yesterday with no working equipment and no assignments to work on, a group of art students thought their class time might be better spent in the president’s office.

Five advanced art students, organized by Jennifer Price, a junior 3-D major, unexpectedly marched into interim President Lou Hencken’s office at 2 p.m. yesterday to speak with him about their concerns over the construction delays at the former Booth West building. The students say they are not receiving the education they paid for because the building is not ready to facilitate their classes.

Art classes have been relocated to the former Booth West building until expansion and renovation of the Doudna Fine Art Center is completed in 2005. Contractors hired by the owners of the building have not completed the building, even though classes began there last week.

Price and Hencken agreed that the meeting cleared the air between administration and students, but many of the same frustrations still linger.

“I’m sorry that they are frustrated,” said Hencken. “When they left, I hope they realized that we know what is going on. We’re never happy when buildings are not what they are supposed to be.”

Price said that Hencken couldn’t make any promises about when classes could run regularly or when the building would be completely finished, but the group is still happy the meeting happened.

“During the meeting and after the meeting we felt hopeful, but now I just feel frustrated again,” Price said. “I guess we will just have to wait and see.”

The students also presented Hencken with a petition on Wednesday with 122 signatures. Price said she got the signatures within three hours, and the signatures are only a small representation of the number of upset students.

“We are pissed,” Price said. “It just comes down to (the fact that) we can’t work.”

The petition lists several complaints that art students have. Studios cannot be unpacked because construction is ongoing during class time, outlets don’t work, only some lights work and the rooms have no doors. Students have no bathrooms, no ventilation and there are exposed wires all over the building.

“Essentially, we are paying a lot of money to take classes that are not ready to be taught,” the petition stated. “We are losing precious working time; our projects and our portfolios will suffer, especially for the students who plan to graduate at the end of the semester.”

Hencken was receptive to that complaint.

“I understood exactly where the students are coming from,” Hencken said.

Price said she hopes the petition let administrators know that students are upset.

“We’d really like our time back, but that’s impossible,” she said.

Price said no advanced studio art classes can work on any projects, and professors have been sending students home or to the library to do research. However, students should be doing far more in class than learning where the art books are, she said.

By the second week of class, Price was planning to be in the middle of a print shop project.

Sculpture students have done sketches, but have nowhere to sculpt their creations. Painting students have been asked to take their work home with them, but fumes can be a health hazard in an unventilated room.

“No studio classes can work,” Price said.

Henken said he hopes the students will understand they are not alone in their concerns, and the administration empathizes with them.

“No one at the university is happy about this either,” he said.