Students Rose Mary Freeman, the president of the AAAC; Horace Huntley, the group's secretary; and Warren Tucker Jr., the leaders of the occupation, were indicted on charges of aggravated criminal damage to property, rioting, and unlawful assembly; the former two receiving a ninety-day suspended sentence and one-year probation, while the latter was acquitted.

[22] On October 21, 2024, pro-Palestinian protesters organized by the university's Students for a Democratic Society chapter occupied the building by barricading themselves in.

The building currently houses the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the School of Physics and Astronomy,[28] including the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics and the William I.

[30] The state's grant covers two-thirds of the cost, while the remaining third is set to be paid by the College of Science and Engineering over the course of 20 years.

[30] Conceptualized as far back as 1908, it was built as part of a major University expansion project and was designed to host the entire 1929 student population.

[31] Northrop's opening ceremonies included performances by the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, and the "Alumni and State Program".

[40] A later renovation project, carried out by Loeffler Construction and Consulting, upgraded floors, interior finishes, and general accessibility, along with replacement of the windows and the addition of several fixed tables within classrooms.

The building began to fall into disrepair until it underwent a renovation in 1999, filling it with $1,000,000 worth of modern equipment, reclaiming the offices previously occupied by the Math Department, adding fire escapes to the Vincent Hall connection, installing a sprinkler system, and increasing the Hubbard School's annual budget in order to raise the number of faculty by ten.

The basement at one time contained a photography lab and offices for the Gopher yearbook, the Ski-U-Mah humor magazine, the Literacy Review, and the Minnesota Daily.

[44] Beginning in May 1970 and lasting for a month, students protesting against the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War occupied the building for 24 hours a day.

In 1972, after President Richard Nixon announced a plan to blockade and mine North Vietnam's harbors, the most significant demonstrations took place around campus, including a rally at Coffman during which former United States Senator, from Minnesota, Eugene McCarthy spoke.

This renovation reversed most of the changes made in the 1976 remodel and restored much of the original building,[45] along with constructing a new 1,900 car underground parking garage behind the structure.

[44] Additionally, the renovation saw the opening of an expansion connected to the basement of the main structure; a building known as the cube, which contains seating, a post office, an entryway to the campus bookstore, a convenience store, and a Starbucks coffee shop.

[47] In 2019, a university task force suggested renaming the building, due to Lotus Coffman's racist and anti-Semitic policies.

Though much of the original structure was retained[51] and returned to its pre-1985 renovation layout, including removal of the hallway to Akerman's driveway, its sixteen feet tall steel hangar doors were replaced with a glazed curtain-wall entrance and both its ground floor and second floor mezzanine were repurposed to provide collaborative spaces for students.

[52] Built as a connecting structure to a previous 1923 building,[53] and houses the Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with the Anderson Student Innovation Labs.

By the time renovation started in 2014, the original west and north wings had numerous code violations in its electrical systems, HVAC, restrooms, elevators, and windows; and a mercury spill had temporarily closed a teaching lab.

The north wing received a mechanical penthouse with new piping and air handling units, while the building's windows were replaced.

[54] In 2017, a 78 year old Mechanical Engineering professor, Barney Klamecki, was found dead within the building, appearing to have died of natural causes, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

[64] A critically acclaimed example of modern architecture, built as part of a renovation linking Vincent and Murphy Halls together, and located between the two buildings.

The design, created by landscape architect Roger Martin with support from University Architect, Winston Close, and Head of the university's School of Architecture, Ralph Rapson, replaced an earlier concept by the architecture-engineering firm Toltz, King & Day, who were in charge of building the connections between the two buildings, that was considered to be less sophisticated.

The courtyard's furnishings, circulation, and recessed design is meant to invoke a sense of peacefulness, unique from the rest of the campus.