Of the 411 students who participated in the East Campus referendum vote on Wednesday, 365 ‘ roughly 90 percent ‘ voted yes for the need for two separate collegiate centers to be included in the renovation plans for the new Dickinson Community and Newing College.
Current plans by administration call for the construction of one center to be shared by the two communities. About 300 students also voted to maintain the current style of communal bathrooms in the communities, while 115 students preferred the semi-private bathrooms proposed by Binghamton University.
The East Campus Referendum was organized by members of the Student Association, many of whom are unhappy with current Newing-Dickinson plans proposed by the administration. The referendum was originally presented by SA Vice President for Academic Affairs Matt Landau, who said that certain administrators refused to even read anything by students on the topic of the renovations.
Since its introduction last semester, the East Campus Renovation plans have sparked debate from the student body and led to the creation of a Facebook group entitled ‘Keep Newing & Dickinson the way it is.’ Since its formation in August, the group has gained 328 members.
‘The purpose of the referendum was to find out what students want,’ said Landau, a junior political science major. ‘The results will be sent to the administration, and it is what myself and the rest of the SA will advocate for.’
Landau heavily stressed his belief in the importance of student opinion on the matter, citing that this year Newing College Council voted 32-0 in favor of keeping communal bathrooms in the community.
Vice President for Administration James VanVoorst, however, said that the he considers the issue of semi-private versus communal bathrooms closed and that plans are going forward.
Though the University’s renovation plans continue to be criticized, VanVoorst defends his and the rest of the administration’s decision to build only one collegiate center for the two communities. He noted that this would be ‘for the purpose of cost avoidance.’
‘I have taken the position that I would like to see one building,’ VanVoorst said of the collegiate center. ‘Focus groups will tell us what sort of activities and programs to put into the building.’
VanVoorst emphasized that though the building would only have one kitchen, there would be two distinct dining areas ‘ one for each community.
While administration may consider constructing two dining areas within the one collegiate building as a compromise, it has not satisfied student leaders such as Landau and SA President David Bass.
‘What’s interesting is that this is not just a student issue,’ Bass said. ‘The faculty masters were as adamant, if not more adamant, that we need separate collegiate centers, and yet the administration just continues to look at ‘well, how can we make one center work.’
Though both Bass and Landau said that BU officials would not approve of the referendum or its questions as they had originally wanted, they are hopeful for more discussion of the East Campus renovation plans and any possible changes that might come of it.
‘The future students of Newing and Dickinson deserve their own dining hall, with their own building,’ Landau said. ‘It is not fair for them to have to share a building when no other community has to.’
Construction of the renovations project isn’t scheduled to begin until 2009.