Construction, detours and the million dollar facilities they bring to TU

By Marc Urbanas, contributing writer

With ever present detours and noise day after day, Towson University has been a construction zone since 2018 with projects big and small. 

Smith Hall’s construction has blocked off multiple walkways since it started, taking over a new path this year that went from Freedom Square to Albert S. Cook Library. Glen Tower D’s construction has blocked off a heavily used connecting stairway to academic buildings. This created a detour that forces students to cross the entrance to Lot 11, which is a parking lot off Cross Campus Drive.

“They’re killing me,” sophomore Stecia Nazziwa said. The Smith and Glen detours cut off her two main routes to get to her classes in the Science Complex.

“It cuts off a lot of the pathways we have to get around campus,” freshman Martin Jones said, though it hasn’t impacted him as much. 

This high level of construction is not the norm for Towson. No new academic buildings were built on the main campus from 2012 to 2017, but since 2018 TU has received around $400 million in construction related costs from capital budgets.

Capital budgets are separate from Towson’s yearly operating budget and are allocated by the state for special projects like infrastructure improvements and construction.

“We can’t commingle those two pots of money,” Katie Maloney, Towson’s associate vice president for government relations and public policy, said. An increase in capital investment does not mean Towson’s operating budget decreases, or vice versa.

TU received money from the capital budget to pay for the Science Complex, Health Professions Building and the Smith Hall renovation. However, they paid for several others, such as the University Union expansion and the Glen Towers renovations, out of their operating budget. 

From 2022 to 2024 alone, Towson received over $200 million, with much of that being spent on the Health Professions Building. University of Maryland College Park received around the same amount, $267 million in the same time period, even though the student population is nearly twice that of Towson.

Maloney said that Towson has been effective in lobbying the University System of Maryland (USM) and the state for capital investment. 

“Yes, and I take full credit for that,” Maloney said. “You’re welcome.” 

Maryland’s capital budget is drafted by the governor each year, and the USM submits combined requests for its universities for capital investment. Towson lobbies the USM to request funding for its projects.

The USM only requests capital investment for the most immediately necessary and beneficial construction projects. The governor grants the USM’s requests the majority of the time, according to Maloney. 

The state legislature can still remove Towson’s funding before it passes the capital budget, which Towson lobbies to prevent.

This process hasn’t always favored Towson. TU did not receive much capital investment from 2012 to 2017. So, in recent years, Towson needed investments to bring its older facilities up to standard.

An increasing student population and high retention rate contributed to state willingness to fund Towson projects. 

“Eighty-percent of our students are from Maryland and almost 80% stay in Maryland,” Maloney said.

Another factor is the growing demand for STEM and health professions workers in Maryland. This made the state especially willing to fund the construction of Towson’s Science Complex and Health Professions Building.

“You can tell that they’re necessary, but I didn’t know they’d spent around $400 million, that’s a lot,” Nazziwa said.

Towson is unlikely to get capital investment to fund a new academic building in the near future, according to Maloney. 

“Since we just built two massive academic assets in the last five years, I think they’re kinda telling us to cool our jets,” Maloney said.

The Health Professions Building finished construction in summer 2024 and is currently in use. The Smith Hall renovations are slated to finish in Summer of 2027. Glen Tower D is expected to finish off the Glen renovations by summer 2025.