The Anderson Hall Pool Natatorium will be closed during the summer so $55,000 in new light fixtures can be installed.

Conrad Miller, administrator and support service project manager to the Physical Plant, said the present light fixtures have been in the natatorium since its construction in 1964. “The fixtures are old, and we are trying to get a fixture that can withstand moisture and chlorine,” he said.

The high humidity in the natarorium also contributes to the erosion of the light fixtures, Miller said. Physical Plant workers will construct a scaffold in order to complete the repairs, he said.

The scaffold will allow workers to walk up to the light fixtures and make repairs, he said. They will also use this scaffold to remove the old lighting fixtures and install the new ones. Miller said constructing the scaffold would take the longest to be completed.

In the Jan. 21, 1988, issue of The Northern Star it stated the Gabel Hall pool had similar problems. In December 1985, Gabel pool and gym were damaged from a leaky roof. Repairs for the roof were completed in one month.

“Our hope is that the job (in Anderson Hall) is completed before school starts in the fall semester,” Miller said. He said Buchanan and Bellows and Associates from Bloomington, Ill., will develop plans and specifications for the lighting.

“They will tell us what kind of fixture to look for, where they should be located and how and where they should be installed,” Miller said. He said NIU sought the chancellor’s office’s approval on April 17. “I don’t anticipate any problem with (the plan’s) approval,” Miller said.

Additional painting and remodeling also is being done in the hall, Miller said. However, these improvements will not be financed with the money for the lighting project, Miller said.

“If we are going to have swimming pools they should be maintained in a desirable and safe place,” he said.

Nancy Hungate, aquatics coordinator for physical education, said that the summer programs will have to use the Gabel pool for there activities while the Anderson pool is closed. She said the Gabel pool will be used for three programs: sports camps, physical education and students.

“Normally the additional program would be athletics, but they don’t have an on-going program during the summer,” Hungate said.

“We’ve had to wait for (the pool lighting repairs) for nearly five years. It’s going to make it a lot nicer for the people who use it,” said Jerry Ball, Chairman of Physical Education.