{"id":172672,"date":"2026-02-28T09:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/172672\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T09:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T09:47:19","slug":"miami-universitys-millett-hall-demolition-replacement-unanimously-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/172672\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami University’s Millett Hall demolition, replacement unanimously approved"},"content":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Ohio \u2014 Plans to demolish Miami University’s Millett Hall and replace it with a complex on Cook Field were passed unanimously by the university’s board of trustees. <\/p>\n

Students and staff protested the proposal ahead of the 9 a.m. board of trustees meeting<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The plan to build a multipurpose arena at Cook Field will move forward \u2014 at a price tag of around $242 million. University officials said the new facility will address space issues posed by Millett currently. It will also address systems operations and maintenance challenges currently faced at Millett. <\/p>\n

Millett Hall, built in 1968, is nearly 60 years old at this point; according to the university, at least $175 million would be necessary to renovate the space and add the amenities, like a practice court and a dedicated volleyball court, that the Cook Field facility will have. <\/p>\n

WATCH: Miami University Athletic Director David Sayler spoke about how he believes the plan will help the university<\/p>\n

Miami University board unanimously passes plan to replace Millett Hall<\/p>\n

Miami University senior Bri Fitzgerald told us she planned to be at the protest ahead of the trustee meeting, after helping to organize a survey<\/a> where people on campus and in Oxford got to weigh in on the prospect of a new facility.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald said she’s not against the idea that the teams do likely need a new home.<\/p>\n

“I can get behind the idea of a new arena as our sports teams become more successful, like our basketball team, and I support that,” Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

She and others couldn’t, however, get behind the more than a quarter-billion-dollar debt that came with the university’s plan.<\/p>\n

“That’s hundreds and hundreds of students’ tuition, like, total,” Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

Senior Ashley Reynolds spoke at the board meeting Friday morning. She, too, said she was concerned about spending priorities.<\/p>\n

“I actually came to Miami for a social justice major, which they have in recent years gotten rid of because they didn’t have the funding for it,” Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

Reynolds said she feels the university is failing to prioritize funding students’ academics.<\/p>\n

“If we don’t have the funds for my education, for our education, then we don’t have the funds for an arena,” Reynolds said. “Plain and simple.”<\/p>\n

Others who oppose the project voiced their frustration about the lack of collaboration with students and staff. <\/p>\n

The survey revealed that most respondents didn’t support placing a new facility on what’s now green space on Cook Field.<\/p>\n

The plan has received backing from one associate professor on campus, Adam Beissel, who initially approached the idea of a new arena on campus with some skepticism.<\/p>\n

Beissel studies projects like what’s now proposed on campus globally, and he told us he’s come around to support the project.<\/p>\n

WATCH: We heard from people on both sides of the demolition debate ahead of the decision<\/p>\n

$281 million demolition proposal receives pushback from Miami University students, staff<\/p>\n

“I go into a lot of my work with a critical lens because the history of these things isn’t so great,” he said.<\/p>\n

Beissel told us the Miami proposal has a sound plan and financial backing, and he said it’s necessary to replace the aging and antiquated Millett Hall.<\/p>\n

“When Millett Hall was built, and it’s over 60 years old now, it was built when we had one major NCAA team. Now we have three,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sean wants to hear from you. You can contact him here:<\/p>\n

\"contact<\/a><\/p>\n

Beissel also said that Millett Hall has accrued tens of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance costs and isn’t up to modern ADA compliance.<\/p>\n

We also spoke to athletic director David Sayler after the vote.<\/p>\n

He said he believes the new arena will create more intrigue in the university and increase space for athletic programs.<\/p>\n

“(Student athletes) should have access to get shots up or work on their day 24 hours a day if they want to, wherever it fits into their schedule, and this facility is going to allow us to do that,” Sayler said.<\/p>\n

Sayler said an improved arena will also bring more opportunities for the university’s teams. <\/p>\n

“One of the common refrains I hear from my counterparts at Dayton, Xavier and Cincinnati is that they don’t want to come to Millett because it’s a dump,” Sayler said. “Well, we’re fixing that, so they need to be in our gym.”<\/p>\n

The chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education will now vote to approve the plans. <\/p>\n

Sayler said he anticipates that decision could come as soon as Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OXFORD, Ohio \u2014 Plans to demolish Miami University’s Millett Hall and replace it with a complex on Cook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[35666,35667,123,125,124,35668],"class_list":{"0":"post-172672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-9-on-your-side","9":"tag-cincinnati-news","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-news","13":"tag-wcpo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}