Academic building will be useful, but student union is essential
Through 25 of this college’s 30 years, this college has grown through construction and landscaping projects. This year, fenced-off chunks of what was once green pasture between Villages I and II tell the tale: Virginia Wesleyan College is again under construction.
A few construction glitches aside — a late start, a cut phone line or two — the school’s new academic building should open next fall. It is well needed. Some faculty members are working from offices no larger than a closet. New classrooms will make scheduling easier for administration and provide new resources to students. It is just one small, $4 million step along the path known as “Consider the Harvest.”
This is the school’s drive to raise $25 million toward endowments, facility upgrades and educational support. On deck is an administrative building which has not yet been funded, but is scheduled to be built and operational within the next two years.
It is hard to fault the college for suffering another eyesore. This much-needed growth will consolidate service offices and have immediate impact on the school’s undersized library, which will overtake space now occupied by administrative offices. However, we must urge aggressive pursuit of a student union.This building would become the social center of the college. One need only stroll a few short moments through Old Dominion University’s Webb Center to see what is missing at this college: Quality shops. Eateries. High-tech convention and presentation facilities. A book store that is both a convenience store and a school store. Webb Center provides for ODU exactly what Wesleyan lacks.
And to think the Student Union was not even a factor in the original “Consider the Harvest” plan. This plan has since been amended. Perhaps it was the realization that little of what students seek when the classes are over and the books are closed exists on this highly-manicured plot of real estate.
School officials, including President Greer, have repeated that the Union is a priority.
When the funding comes through, of course.We commend such promises, and await action.