Where did all the computers go? That was the question on New School students’ minds when they returned from winter break to find a construction zone in place of the popular third- and fourth-floor computer labs at Arnhold Hall on 13th Street.

“I thought it was some kind of cruel joke,” said Miciah Carter, a Parsons photography sophomore who said he had raced up the stairs in Arnhold to print something for his first week of classes only to find construction tape barring his way. “New School’s just playing with us right?”

“This decision was made by academic and administrative leadership along with the Board of Trustees,” said Michael Joy, the New School’s Director of Campus Planning and a member of the University Facilities Committee.

“Arnhold Hall’s generous ceiling heights, which provide better acoustics, along with the proximity to the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, made it a natural destination for the newly formed Performing Arts School,” Joy added.

Meanwhile, the computers that were once there have been distributed around the university, administrators said.

“The computers on the third and fourth floors were moved to the Innovation Center on the sixth floor of 6 E. 16th St., and the University Center in the lower level of 63 Fifth Ave.,” said Lillian Sartori, the New School’s Assistant Vice President of Information Technology and also a member of the University Facilities Committee.