By Cassandra Brown and Danielle Norris
Some students feel like they do not have a voice about changes being made on the college campus.
In response to those students, Veritas collected responses in a BC Wish List, from students about what they like about our college campus and what they want to see changed.
The survey, to which students were asked to respond online and in the KCC, revealed a variety of suggestions from students as to what they wanted changed on our campus. Some of the more popular ideas included getting rid of WEPA, having more/better convocations or for convos to be optional, have an off campus meal swipe option, allowing people over 21 to drink on campus, 24 access to some sort of food source such as a coffee or snack lounge and a change in health services.
“Right now, what we are looking at is prioritizing the project that deal both fiscally, that is what we are going to get the most with the least amount of money [value]. What groups of students, the most students possible, are going to be affected by these changes as well? So it’s sort of a majority rules in this situation,” Michael Hough, faculty representative on the strategic planning committee for the campus pillar said. Professor Hough interviews faculty and staff members about physical campus enhancement changes.
One additional idea that students expressed was having an outdoor socializing area. “One of the things that kept coming up over and over in conversations with faculty is that there are very few places outside to meet, to gather,” Professor Hough said showing that students and faculty agree on the request.
In response to this issue, the college placed four landscape proposal boards on display in the KCC lobby at the beginning of the semester. The proposals included improved landscape plans for the Eagle’s Nest area, a Rebecca Quad, a Mall terminus and improvements to make the athletics field more of a complex.
According to Abby Parkhurst, director of marketing and communication, the Rebecca Quad was the most popular choice from student suggestions in the comment box. However, some students were upset because
they thought the college could use tuition money in a better way. “We haven’t approved any of the projects yet,” Anne Keeler, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer said. “We know we can’t do them all at once, we may never do them all, but we wanted to see which of those projects were most attractive, most interesting to students.”
“This isn’t just landscaping. It’s about creating study space, gathering space, and teaching space outside,” Professor Hough said.
In response to student opinion about spending money on landscaping instead of using the money to lower tuition, Keeler said, “I can understand why it would be easy to say ‘I don’t care about that flower bed over there, I care about what I’m paying for school here.’ That is true in the short term and for the individual, but it may not be true for the long term and for the institution, so that’s why we balance that.”
Finding the balance between what’s financially viable for the long term and what interests students in the short term is also a guiding principle in choosing projects.
According to Keeler, the president was really interested in finding out what the students thought about the projects. These possible projects would be completed over time based on student needs and only begin when the college is financially able to complete them.
“They [the projects] are not all going to be done, and certainly not all at the same time. They are only going to be done when we can identify funding and if we have campus reserves for plant fund, [campus improvements] or if a gift or two come about,” Keeler said.
One concern students have with the college is the upkeep of academic buildings and dorms. Chris Conte said on the Veritas Facebook page that restoring older buildings on campus is something he wants to see more often. “We should preserve the character of our campus, not gut our buildings entirely. It’s not always necessary,” Conte commented.
Campus faculty expressed similar concerns. “We are faced with a very large task of keeping this very old mixed campus running, and upgrading it as well. I mean we can stabilize it and keep throwing money at things. But like the steam lines, the millions of [dollars] we put into that is going to save us multiple millions of dollars over a long period of time,” Professor Hough said.
One of the bigger issues on campus is the alcohol debate. One of the common responses from students on the BC Wish List was allowing students 21 or older to have alcohol on campus.
“I know from research that we have a high number, compared to other schools, of students that either abstain from alcohol or drink very, very seldom,” Dr. William Miracle, dean of students said, “and then I know we have, this is just from self-reported surveys that the college has done, and then we have other students that drink very frequently. So, I think it’s just trying to decide, in some ways, what the campus community mix needs to be like,” Dean Miracle added.
Both the aesthetic quality and the perceived quality of the campus are important according to Keeler. “We have to balance that with spending money on what is essential. It doesn’t do any good to have a gorgeous campus with beautiful flowers if we don’t have enough faculty. If we are not attractive as an institution both in real quality and in perceived quality than students won’t enroll here,” Keeler said.
“I think administration is always open, particularly [to] constructive student suggestions. We love to get specific suggestions,” Keeler said.
One way students can give constructive suggestions is through Student Senate, the Campus Quality Control and Initiatives page on BC Moodle or participating in a student focus group.
*Sarah Rico and Katheryn Rivera contributed to this story.
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