Despite the persistent demands of alumni from the University of Connecticut’s Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture, there are “no plans in the short term to renovate” the old yellow barn beside Route 195, UConn Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said.
Awareness for the barn’s “dilapidated” condition broke in April of last year, when self-proclaimed UConn ‘Aggie’ and class of 1981 Ratcliffe Hicks alumnus Robert T. Molleur published a strongly worded letter in The Daily Campus expressing his concerns.
“You’d think with all the prestige, endowments and funding UConn has garnered, especially by winning multiple NCAA sports titles, they’d have the wherewithal and means to preserve the old yellow dairy barn on Storrs Road,” Molleur said.
The structure holds special importance to the former agriculture students, who once knew it as a lively home for their learning stock.
“I worked and lived in that barn, in the old herdsman quarters, while attending the Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture and I know its soul personally,” Molleur wrote.
The history of the barn spans a period far longer than the 40 years since Molleur was a student, originating as property of the Connecticut Agricultural College with its construction in 1911. The landmark status of the site is an aspect UConn is seeking to protect, ensuring that prospective plans for development in the area “preserve their historic character,” per the Campus Master Plan.
Among the plans envisioned for the historic barn is for it to potentially house the UConn Dairy Bar upon relocation. While alumni like Molleur commented on this plan as a, “good thing,” university decision-makers are unsure of when the funds will be available to make any course of action a reality.
“The yellow dairy barn is one of UConn’s many treasures, and we appreciate its important history and the potential for future uses. It has been architecturally stabilized, but it is not currently in use and there are no plans in the short term to renovate it,” responded Reitz in a recent email.
The statement is nearly identical to a UConn release in May of last year, suggesting that talks surrounding the future of the barn have remained stagnant.
The antique barn is not immune to the budgetary issues permeating UConn, with “no source of funding” located to service the building, said Reitz.
“For now, the University’s limited capital funds are focused on the projects currently in the planning, design, and construction processes, most of which are connected to UConn’s academic and student housing needs,” Reitz continued.
Although the barn may serve as a monument to fond memories and historic pride for many within the UConn community, the absence of vocal concern from current students alongside the deficit plaguing university finance has paralyzed the site’s development.
“It’s a dire shame how they’ve let that historical barn get run down. Please save it,” exhorted Molleur, who encourages “fellow concerned citizens” to share their thoughts with UConn President Radenka Maric.