Andrew Kunkel
Contributing Writer
Which parts of campus do Wooster students love the most? I do not believe any member of the administration or Board of Trustees that are involved with decisions regarding the future state of buildings on campus can give a satisfactory, or at the bare minimum, honest response to what they think possible answers might be. Like many other students, I am aware of the plans and many details regarding the Lowry renovation; the goals include increasing accessibility and allowing for easier communication between students and faculty.
One of the primary goals given for the Lowry renovation is to make the administration more approachable through changes in the building design. Of course I, and many others in the campus community, agree that this is crucial and should be of the utmost importance in the renovation. However, we need not be architects to understand that spending over 40 million dollars to replace every wall with glass does not by itself make the staff more approachable. I do not understand the justification for replacing the warm and welcoming student center with something that looks like a poorly designed set from a corny sitcom staged in a corporate office building. One of the victims of this replacement is the beloved Pit. At the moment, it is the center of Lowry, where many students come to enjoy each other’s company or study. The renovation has moved it upstairs, surrounded by glass-walled offices that are set to house important and sensitive departments such as the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and the Dean of Students’s Office. I should not have to spell out why that is not just inappropriate, but also disrespectful to students who wish to have sensitive meetings with a little discretion.
Another issue I have with some of the more “practical” solutions that the renovation is intended to provide is the change to some of the dining locations. It seems that the administration’s goal is to remove as much contact between student and dining staff as they possibly can, while simultaneously making more work for the staff and continuing to refuse to pay a living wage. To summarize the plan, they want to replace Mom’s as much as they can with only grab-and-go options and change most of the in-person ordering with apps or touchscreens. I imagine them thinking (in a Dr. Evil voice), “By removing cashiers, we can shift the tasks of our workers so we don’t have to hire more people and can get by, making it seem like a net improvement for students muahahaha!” These aspects of the renovation are meant to provide solutions to problems that the administration deems most important, yet they barely address the problems correctly.
Finally, one of the most important aspects of the renovation that needs to be addressed is their choice of aesthetics. Their 40 million dollar choice (apparently) for all the surfaces is a nice urinal shade of white with a random assortment of neon colors to give it a real doomed-to-fail-tech-start-up vibe. I have to ask, did any of these designers set foot in a building besides Williams Hall? Half of the buildings on campus literally look like they were ripped straight out of Hogwarts. On what planet does a Student Center that looks like a modern airport bathroom fit in there? Every tour guide is required to babble on and on to prospective students about Williams and spend as much time in there as possible in order to sell the school to the parents. To be honest, I don’t really understand the appeal; it’s pretty loud, the chairs are uncomfortable (every last one of them) and there never seems to be space to work. Does the administration actually understand which buildings help retain students? I would argue some of the best memories of Wooster are made in spaces under the marble columns in Timken, or the common spaces in Douglass with the castle-like interior, or the cozy-vibe classrooms in Scovel or Kauke or, most importantly, the Pit.
With the administration’s pitiful response to the COVID-19 crisis, and consistent plan of pretending to address issues relating to racism, sexual misconduct and general safety, this renovation plan is just another slap in the face to students. Even though we all know the administration will go through with their plans, making minimal changes to make it look like they listened, it doesn’t change the fact that they have the collective integrity of a wet blanket. The fact is that, in the midst of a pandemic, they had the gall to present to us a poorly planned, expensive and unnecessary renovation that they haven’t even completed their fundraising for. They didn’t even pretend to care about the needs of students in the short term, at no cost to them, enough to wait to present at an appropriate time. This speaks to the larger issue of how out of touch this administration is with its student body, with no plans on changing anytime soon.
