The University of Minnesota plans to demolish St. Paul’s Magrath Library and the current student center to build a new campus center, complete with dining options and a revamped library.

State House legislators heard a bill April 9 that would grant $84 million for funding the center. The bill was set aside for possible inclusion in the legislature’s biennial bonding bill, which centers on funding infrastructure statewide. 

Many of the buildings on St. Paul’s campus are more than 60 years old. Keeping the campus up to par will help drive student enrollment and serve the thousands of students who take classes there, said Scott Lanyon, the special advisor to the provost for St. Paul campus initiatives.

The St. Paul campus hosts various academic departments, including Minnesota’s only veterinary school. It also serves as a major research hub in areas such as agriculture and plants. Despite this, no one wants to spend time on the St. Paul campus, President of the Undergraduate Student Body Riley Hetland said during an informational House committee meeting on March 12. 

Hetland, an environmental science major, primarily takes classes on the St. Paul campus. She said the University stopped hosting events because the infrastructure cannot support them, whether it be due to the flooding, mice, asbestos or power outages.

“I’ve been to career fairs in our current student center where the power has gone out,” Hetland said. “We’re left staring at potential employers sweating in the dark.”

Perhaps the most pressing daily issue, especially as dinner time rolls around, is the lack of food options, Hetland said.

Lanyon said student surveys and discussion groups in the fall of 2024 and early 2025 emphasized a need for dining options. The renovation will also bring new “active learning” classrooms that focus less on lecture and more on facilitating small group discussions, he said.  

The campus center funding is one of three University funding requests to improve facilities. A $100 million request would preserve facilities’ infrastructure, such as roofs and windows, on campuses and research centers statewide. An additional $100 million request would modernize the University’s School of Dentistry clinic, the state’s only school of dentistry.

At the March 12 House Committee information hearing, legislators seemed receptive. 

Rep. Ned Carroll (DFL-Plymouth) said his daughter was considering enrolling in the University’s food science program based on the St. Paul campus, but after touring, found the facilities “tired.” His daughter instead chose to attend Purdue University.

The campus center bill author, Rep. Keith Allen (R-Kenyon), placed a particular emphasis on St. Paul’s campus contributions to agricultural research within Minnesota. 

“Agriculture is based on data,” Allen said. “By having a strong undergraduate program, it brings those students through, gets them involved in producing this data and continuing the research.”

The center will bring research experts from across various agricultural and scientific fields, as the University is the state’s only high-level research institution, Lanyon said. 

Final funding negotiations are likely to happen in early May before the session ends May 18.

In the coming years and months, the University wants to continue improvement to the St. Paul campus, Lanyon said.

“We want to make the campus welcoming, truly welcoming,” Lanyon said.