The Famuan

After a slight lull in construction, the campusx92s new building sites are steaming with activity.

A holdup in the Florida Legislature of matching funds for Florida A&M University%92s new, $20 million journalism school won%92t delay the building%92s opening, school officials say.

"We can't order equipment without money," said Robert Ruggles, dean of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication.

But instead of delaying the building's opening, Ruggles said the school would equip part of the building after it receives the money. Officials plan to install a printing press as well as state-of-the-art computer and graphic design equipment.

When construction is completed this year, the new building will house all of the school's programs.

Officials said building construction is going as expected. "We got lucky and haven't had too many weather or material delays," said Ricky Goodson, a construction worker with Culpepper Construction, which is handling the project.

But, as Ruggles said, getting the funding in place has been the problem.

About $6 million has not been collected. Some of the financial delay is due to $1.5 million in outstanding pledges from the private sector, including from the St. Petersburg Times and Florida Times-Union. Those contributions are to be matched dollar for dollar by the state Legislature.

Money raised by the school in 2003 cannot be matched by the legislature until 2004, when the new building is expected to open. Meanwhile, the school is continuing its private fund-raising efforts and hopes to have the money and the matching state funds in time for the scheduled opening.

The four-floor building, which will accommodate about 600 faculty members, staff and students, will have offices, classrooms, a library and a computer laboratory.

There also will be offices for student organizations, including the The Famuan newspaper and Journey magazine. Officials hope to have the building completed and ready for use by spring or early summer 2004, and begin teaching classes by that next fall semester.

Frank Khalifa is a student at Florida A&M University who writes for The Famuan.