When Faith Stedman ’28 walked into the second floor of the Sanderson building on the first day of classes, she was horrified at what she saw.
“It’s awful,” said Stedman, a sophomore music major on The Cove. “It’s so modern and completely clashes with the rest of the building. It doesn’t look like the same plac e… I feel like I don’t know where anything is anymore.”
Sanderson Hall’s lobby renovations have been unpopular among Covenant students. More than one student said the white walls and lack of natural light make it feel like a hospital.
Renovations have removed most decorations on the walls and all student seating from the lobby, replacing couches and chairs with a new set of bathrooms. Additionally, the small tables that displayed the latest issue of the Bagpipe for students to pick up and read are gone.
Students may dislike the way the lobby looks, but the interior design affects much more than their eyes. According to the National Library of Medicine, warmer tones foster positive feelings of comfort and safety. The cooler tones (like those in the lobby remodel) contribute more to emotions like stress and fatigue.
“It’s lifeless,” said Arika Scholtens ’28, a biology major on Imani. “There’s no more couches to promote socializing, no windows, and the whole place smells like paint.”
For critics of the Sanderson remodel, there’s bad news. Fluorescent lighting and stark white walls may be the future of more academic buildings on Covenant’s campus.
“The downstairs of Sanderson will be a future project,” said Byron Carle, facilities manager. “At some point all buildings will be touched … new carpet, new paint, new furniture. It’s all on the agenda, as need arises.”
Need definitely arose in the case of Sanderson Hall, which has been long due for an update. Sanderson, one of Covenant College’s older buildings, opened in 1984. It houses the theater, biblical studies and English departments.
Plans for the theater auditorium’s remodel were widely circulated during spring 2025; however, many students weren’t aware that renovations extended into the second-floor lobby.
“The lobby grew out of the theater,” said Carle. “Necessity dictated it … the bathroom was updated to create more room for the auditorium, and then the lobby had to be updated as well.”
While criticism and student opinion are important, several students are taking a different approach. Instead of critiquing the remodel, they are hoping that the renovations are simply something new that will require adjustment.
“It’s just very different,” said Ezra Harris ’28, a IDS major from Suburbs. “It’s not all bad, it’ll just take some getting used to.”