Changes are taking place practically everywhere on campus. Over the past year, the University has become a dizzying labyrinth of construction sites from the Center for Film Studies to the Freeman Athletic Center to Fauver Field. What students can expect this year is much of the same, reaping the benefits of some projects while grinding their teeth through the others. The latest ground to be broken was Fauver Field, where construction on new dorms began on August 9. The first opening of the year will be the new Center for Film Studies.
Fauver Field
As freshman excitedly entered their dorm rooms Monday, many displayed perplexed looks and raised eyebrows. The cause was Fauver Field, the latest addition in the 10-year University Master Plan. With digging starting daily at 7 a.m. it is not a welcoming sight.
The most recent groundbreaking on Fauver Field is also the most controversial. Many students anticipate loud noise outside their bedrooms and are unsure of the outcome.
According to the Master Plan website, the future dorms at Fauver Field will hold a total of 270 students within two buildings. One building will be a freshman residence with 80 doubles and 6 singles. The other, meant for upper classmen, will accommodate 104 students in five-person suites.
“This will enable more upper classmen to live on campus,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Marcia Bromberg.
She explained that many freshmen currently occupy single rooms intended for upper-classmen. By moving them to Fauver Field, freed rooms in addition to the upperclassman building on Fauver Field will enable all students to live on campus. There are currently between 160 and 180 upperclassmen living off campus, Bromberg estimated.
Nathan Victoria ’05, the WSA Chair of Finance and Facilities, said that while students support all other construction projects, Fauver Field has been a point of contention.
“It is seen by the student body as crowding the campus and as an inadequate replacement of In-Town. Many feel that it is a rushed project, that it is going forward at the cost of being premature,” he said.
Victoria has been involved in the planning for the new residences. In one instance, he was pushing for the upperclassmen suites to have carpeting, but he said it seems there will not be enough money in the budget to do so.
Another problem Victoria detailed was that while many students complain, not many are willing to get involved in the planning process. The WSA will be holding information sessions about how to make student suggestions heard early this fall.
In the mean time students settling into rooms next to the construction are wary of how things will proceed.
“I had no idea about the construction before I got here,” said Jessica Ghofrani ’08, who was moving into a room overlooking the site. “It’s not quite the view I expected, but it’s hard to tell how disruptive it’s gonna be.”
Center for Film Studies
Across campus, the film studies faculty is in a celebratory mood as professors hastily move into the recently completed Center for Film Studies. Their new theater is scheduled to debut on Sept. 6 with a double showing of Singing in the Rain.
The opening of the Center for Film Studies after a year of construction has generated excitement and pride among the student body, faculty and Administration alike. It is the first new academic building in 30 years and has some high-tech amenities to boast of.
The new theater has 412 seats, Dolby surround sound, and the capability to project 16mm, 35mm and 70mm film, video and DVDs. The outer classrooms include a production unit and editing facilities for 16 mm film, digital video, and virtual filmmaking (3-D computer animation), according to Assistant Professor of Film Studies Lisa Dombrowski.
“We are all thrilled with the new Center for Film Studies. It was beautifully designed and constructed, and is a very efficient and functional space,” Dombrowski wrote in an e-mail.
The new center is also a way to unite all facets of the film department and faculty, which were previously spread out across campus.
“Walking into the new cinema gives me chills,” said Assistant Professor of Film Studies Scott Higgins. “It’s enough to make a grown man cry!”
Classes will be held in the theater and adjacent facilities beginning this fall.
Freeman Athletic Center, Usdan University Center and Other Projects
The next big opening on campus will be the addition to the Freeman Athletic Center. Bromberg expects the construction to be completed by the end of the semester and ready for spring athletic training.
New additions include a gymnasium that is equipped to seat 1,000 spectators, a new fitness center three times the size of the old one, eight squash courts and renovated locker rooms.
Downy House is also undergoing construction. Renovations should be finished by next semester to bring all English faculty under one roof, according to Bromberg.
Ambitious plans continue on the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center, which aside from replacing and expanding the existing Davenport Campus Center, is expected to become a general hub for all members of the University community.
According to WSA President Emily Polak, the WSA has been heavily involved in working out the plans for the Usdan Center. They are working to ensure that the building will provide enough student space, not only in terms of general meeting areas and a cafeteria, but with game rooms as well.
Other sites to watch out for are the lots being redone on Pine Street and Warren Street where the University will install senior prototype houses—new versions of senior wood frame houses.
Within the past year much progress has been made, but just when students think things are going to quiet down—The New Film Center is finished, and the gym is getting close…something new is dug up.
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