Before the fire Wednesday, faculty members at Blair Hall had name plates outside their doors and wooden desks in their offices.

On Thursday, those same faculty members could not have expected they would be moved to the old Clinical Services building, using half sheets of notebook paper as nameplates and folding tables as desks.

Yellow note pads lay in the middle of each table, replacing computers that used to occupy desks in Blair.

“It’s so surreal,” said assistant sociology professor Darren Hendrickson.

At 11 a.m. Thursday each professor was asked to prepare a list of things they want back and things that aren’t as important.

“My list can go on forever,” Hendrickson said with a smile hiding his disappointment.

“My office was 50 percent of my life,” said sociology professor Max Kashefi. “My data, my research, my notes,” Kashefi paused, let his head fall to his hands with a sniffle then continued.

“I had a lot of old books, my publications and hard copy papers all have burned,” Kashefi said. “All my research since 1978 is gone.”

“Fire doesn’t discriminate,” said Gary Foster, sociology and anthropology department chair. “Some individuals have been with us for four years and some have been here for over 30 years. The fire took away from the people who have been here four years as much as the people who have been here for 30.”

Foster’s office was on the the second floor of Blair and he is optimistic some of his belongings will be recovered. High on his list is a 40-year-old rolltop desk that was given to him by his grandmother.

Assistant Sociology Professor Lisa New Freeland also fears remnants of her grandmother will be gone for good.

“I had audio files of my grandmother who died three weeks ago,” New Freeland said.

Sociology Professor Reed Benedict was beyond agitated with the loss of his 10 years of research.

“It took me 10 years to acquire my data the first time and it may take another 10 years but I understand it will be a multi-year process,” Benedict said.

Although many faculty members felt they lost their belongings, some of them had hope.

“If they can just recover one file cabinet for me, I’ll just cry with joy,” New Freeland said.

Later Thursday afternoon, a truck pulled up to the old Clinical Services building and some hopes were answered. In the truck were bins filled with some faculty members’ possessions including pictures, computers, cabinets filled with files and a copy machine still dripping with water.

Associate Sociology Professor Janet Cosbey lost her grade book in the fire but got her diploma and her wallet with her driver’s license and credit cards.

“I thought I lost everything, but I guess it’s not as bad as I thought,” Cosbey said.

Cosbey and fellow Sociology Instructor Debbie Cunningham seemed very upbeat and looked at the bright side of the situation.

“Nobody got hurt so it could have been a lot worse,” Cunningham said.

“I’m impressed they got us offices and we have a place to stay,” Cosbey said as she laid her daughter’s baby pictures out on paper towels on her office floor.

Kashefi and New Freeland both had classes to teach today and both answered the students’ questions.

“I had two classes today,” Kashefi said. “We only met for about 30 minutes and all I did was discuss the overall situation and final exams.”

Kashefi was one of the faculty members the fire hit hardest and he perhaps is taking it the hardest as well. He said even his students can’t keep his mind off what happened.

With the smell of smoke and the sight of fire trucks driving down Seventh Street, it’s hard for the faculty to shake off the effects of the fire.

“We’ll all be starting over,” Cosbey said.