In case you forgot, in all the hullabaloo surrounding President Lariviere’s contract, campus crime alerts and the aroma of roses in Eugene that is now unmistakable (sorry, Chip), there’s a vote this week about the status of the EMU renovation.
Starting this morning and ending Thursday evening, the vote that went through the gauntlet just to get here is finally happening. And, if we may ignore all of the politics that surrounded the postponement for a moment, the Emerald recommends students to approve this referendum. The cost is too great and the potential is too high to ignore the possibilities of what a new EMU could bring.
For a bit of a back story, this renovation is a key component of the Oregon 2020 plan, an initiative introduced in 2009 by University Vice President for Student Affairs Robin Holmes. The plan is attempting to improve the residential nature of the University and get it in the running as an elite institution by the year 2020. This is the first point where the opposition doesn’t make sense in context — the movie theaters, restaurants, bars, etc. being proposed aren’t a push for nonstudents to use the facilities but an attempt to connect with students where they are.
It’s an ostentatious shot at making our University an attractive first choice, rather than a “safety school.”
The original Emerald article described how, in 2009, the plans to make the University more residential included so-called “living rooms” on campus — such as in the Knight Library — which sounds a whole lot like trying to make campus “like a home” to us. If we vote to support this proposal now and get involved with the design process, we can tell them how to turn this red-brick and glass-and-metal conglomeration into something we can be proud of.
Because while a large majority of us might not use this building as a student, it does become a part of an institution to which we are irrevocably connected. It’s the building we’ll return to for alumni functions and what we’ll show friends years after commencement. And if we choose to stay in Oregon for the long-term future, it’s a building our relatives may use as students. In a way, it’s only fair to the generations who came before, paying for a McArthur Court they would never watch the Tall Firs dominate or an EMU they would never study in.
It’s a large fee — we’re not going to say that another $100 per term is not costly. And if it’s prohibitively costly, that’s another story for your vote.
But in another way, what we’re talking about is largely the difference between preventative care and hospital care. So much of the current EMU budget in the ASUO goes entirely to maintenance — both for predicted and unforeseen costs, with growing costs each year — that if we could consider this as an expense that treats the problem, it would be less costly in the long run.
Vote for the EMU renovation, because it’s so much more than a potential campus pub.
Editorial: Emerald recommends affirmative vote on EMU referendum
Daily Emerald
November 26, 2011
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