Administrators say the future of Tate Page Hall is uncertain. It’s been a mainstay on Western’s campus since 1970. BETHANY MOLLENKOF/Herald

The future is uncertain for a building that has been a mainstay on campus for about 40 years.

A long-term decision hasn’t been made about what will happen to Tate Page Hall, but officials say it will be around for the immediate future.

After the new building for the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences is finished in January 2011, there will still be programs remaining in Tate Page, said Sam Evans, dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences.

Those programs include the department of communication disorders, instructional technology and the college readiness program, he said.

“It will be remaining in use for quite a while,” he said.

When the Navitas program for international students begins this fall, it will be housed in Tate Page, but that isn’t a long-term solution, President Gary Ransdell said.

Western recently announced its partnership with Navitas, a company that officials hope will help them double international enrollment over the next decade.

The University Pathways Program will launch this September and is expecting to admit about 80 students in the fall semester.

“That space will need to be improved if it’s to have a future life, but we need to figure out how to do that and how to pay for it,” Ransdell said.

He said he would be reluctant to give Tate Page a complete renovation, since its design is flawed.

“There’s architectural value in restoring a building like Van Meter, but it may or may not make sense for one like Tate Page,” Ransdell said.

Planning, Design and Construction is evaluating Tate Page to determine whether to renovate it and how, said Ben Johnson, assistant director of PDC.

The evaluation will take another couple of months, but if it’s decided to renovate Tate Page, it’s likely that it will happen in several phased renovations rather than one complete renovation, Johnson said.

Although he said he doesn’t know any definitive plans, he does know Tate Page will be kept functioning for the foreseeable future.

Ransdell said buildings are not intended to last forever, but right now he doesn’t know if Tate Page’s time is up.

“We may be with Tate Page for many more years,” he said. “It just hasn’t been determined yet.”