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Renovations displace CON student holiday festivities by Dick Peterson Public Relations Its 50-year-old halls decked with boughs of hanging conduit, the College of Nursing moved its holiday fa-la-la-la-la to the Library and Administration Building lobby this year. Dr. Maureen Keefe tops the College of Nursing's Christmas tree with an angel. “We all enjoyed and benefited from the CON students and alumni as they decorated the beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby of the Administration Building,” Keefe said. Displaced students, Monday afternoon refugees from the dust and debris of ongoing renovation, chatted, laughed and snacked to the background strains of seasonal music from a portable keyboard.  And they applauded as nursing dean Maureen Keefe, Ph.D., topped their Christmas tree with an angel donned in gay apparel. Careful to choose her words, Keefe left little doubt that the semester has been an ordeal for students and faculty alike as workmen replace worn- out heating, cooling, and electrical systems. First scheduled to be completed for the fall semester, the estimate now is to be ready for the spring semester. But the spring semester really isn’t that far off. “They found asbestos,” Keefe said, explaining one reason for the delay. “I don’t think anyone anticipated the extent of the renovation.” Saying she is no longer specific about deadlines, Keefe wondered aloud that if the full scope of the renovations had been known, “... They might not have kept us in there. But then, where are you going to put a whole college?” As winter chills approach, fresh still are memories of stifling hot classrooms, inadequate cooling and water dripping from the ceiling.  “It hasn’t compromised learning,” Keefe said.  Nonetheless, you can’t help but imagine what it will be like when the renovations are complete. Winter? Spring, maybe, will be a season to be jolly.