Last week’s center spread of this newspaper focused on problematic spaces on campus. In this week’s editorial, we would like to add one more to the list. With all of the discussion on social life, one crucial part that has been largely missing from the discussion is hard to miss and sits near the very center of campus: McCullough Student Center, in the opinion of the Board, leaves much to be desired for a vibrant social life. The building’s offerings do not befit a school with an extracurricular atmosphere as active as Middlebury’s, and in the next few years the College ought to explore how to fundamentally change the student center as it stands now.
Part of the problem is the basic factors of the building’s architecture. An amalgam of administrative offices, College retail businesses, and Mail Center/Box Office, it is a Frankenstein’s monster built out of years of renovations and remodeling beginning before the First World War. The original marble structure was the school gymnasium, built in 1912 and later remodeled to tack on a pool in 1963. In the late 1980s, the space became a student center after the completion of the Field House. Silos on both ends of the building became offices for Student Activities and the Student Government and the retail options of the Grille and Crossroads Café made their debut on the upper and lower floors.
This series of renovations and re-purposing means that the building falls short architecturally. Half of the space seems to be winding corridors or stairwells rather than places where students can congregate and build community.
Additionally, contrast the building’s dungeon-like café and dining options with the student centers at other colleges or even the newer buildings on our campus. The Paresky Center at Williams College (completed in 2007) has large windows and is described as the campus “living room.” Atwater Dining Hall (completed in 2005) is ideal in this regard.
Another part of the problem with the space is its attempt to be everything to everyone. When you combine administrative offices, snack bars, a box office and mail center, something inevitably will get shortchanged. In this case, it seems to be a student ownership of the space that is conducive to hanging out.
In spite of these drawbacks, students have been doing admirable work with what the space provides. On Friday, April 3, in the Coat Rack (the area behind Crossroads Café) students organized a night where students 21 and older could socialize in a casual setting over Vermont brews. According to attendees and organizers, the event was a great success. The idea is fairly ingenious and a lot of credit is due to the organizers: the Coat Rack capitalizes on one of the many underused parts of the building. At the same time, think of the possibilities if there were spaces in the student center specifically designed for events like a pub night-style Coat Rack event.
Obviously, budgetary concerns remain. There are other priorities for the College. Providing financial aid to all who apply and maintaining the superior faculty and course offerings that are the heart of our reason for attending should always come first. These should precede new construction.
Nevertheless, the College should keep McCullough’s shortcomings in mind as a part of a long-term master plan for the campus. We are well aware of how it can be incongruous to run an editorial voicing support for expensive renovation to a student union alongside a plan to grant more need-based financial aid to international students. However, we ought to at least acknowledge that both represent concerns for students. There have been changes in the works for McCullough for a while: several offices of the Dean of Students staff will be moving to the current Student Services building this summer. This may be an opportunity to think creatively about how students can make the best use of newly-vacated spaces.
In January, this newspaper praised the College’s efforts on constructing new Ridgeline housing. However, there is plenty of work left to do, as the discussions this fall demonstrated. Residential spaces are only part of the areas needing improvement—changing the College’s Student Center should be at the top of the list.
