Commons and commonalities
Daniel J. Williams
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Opinion
The long wait is over. So is the long, circuitous route around Central Hall and the attempt to squeeze 1300 students into one narrow, muddy walkway between classes and meals. Finally finished, the new Grewcock Student Union has opened its doors and changed forever the campus culture of Hillsdale College. Nuisances and quirks invariably accompany new buildings, and the student union has its share.
A major nuisance with the new student union is that students had to endure an additional four days in the old one. Returning to campus and eating in the old Knorr Student Center was like hanging out at your parents' house instead of going on your honeymoon. Having endured that annoyance, students will have to abide patiently several others as Hillsdale College does something uncomfortable and awkward: change.
The impressive new dining facility, ripe with bustling food stations and open spaces, has replaced choice with convenience. Or has it?
The new layout is often decidedly inconvenient, putting, for example, the bread at one end of the serving area and the sandwich food at the other end. In addition to the added stations, Saga has inadvertently made another addition to the dining experience: an extra line. Until the problem is solved, students eating at peak times will stand in line to get in, but then wait in a second line to return their dishes.
And the new $80,000 sorting and washing system refuses to run correctly once the dishes do manage to complete the torturous crawl along the conveyor belt.
Yet nuisances aside - they were mostly expected and will hopefully be rectified - the impact of the student union on campus life has been immediate and pronounced.
Members of what had before been a relatively partitioned campus culture - the snack bar crowd, the library types, "Heritage Room hermits," jocks, Greeks, etc. - are now freely and comfortably intermingling in a commonality.
The old student center - with the exception of the snack bar, which, in the last two years, has seen its popularity plummet - was largely a transition point between classes and meals. Outside of these times, the Ethan Allen Room stood largely vacant minus the occasional introvert sitting alone at a computer or watching the bigscreen at low volume.
Aesthetically, the old center decidedly lacked taste. Those who contest the assertion that Hillsdale College changes slowly should just cast an observant eye at the old student center, its walls bearing plaques and photos and glass cases so old one wonders just what crime these bygone students committed to deserve such vapid prominence.
Yet today's Hillsdale College students now have a place to call their own. And many generations of new students will say the ceremonial goodbye to their parents during orientation weekend and then turn up the hill and see the College's new centerpiece. Thankfully for them, its walls are far too nice to allow forensics plaques and Women's Council photos.
A major nuisance with the new student union is that students had to endure an additional four days in the old one. Returning to campus and eating in the old Knorr Student Center was like hanging out at your parents' house instead of going on your honeymoon. Having endured that annoyance, students will have to abide patiently several others as Hillsdale College does something uncomfortable and awkward: change.
The impressive new dining facility, ripe with bustling food stations and open spaces, has replaced choice with convenience. Or has it?
The new layout is often decidedly inconvenient, putting, for example, the bread at one end of the serving area and the sandwich food at the other end. In addition to the added stations, Saga has inadvertently made another addition to the dining experience: an extra line. Until the problem is solved, students eating at peak times will stand in line to get in, but then wait in a second line to return their dishes.
And the new $80,000 sorting and washing system refuses to run correctly once the dishes do manage to complete the torturous crawl along the conveyor belt.
Yet nuisances aside - they were mostly expected and will hopefully be rectified - the impact of the student union on campus life has been immediate and pronounced.
Members of what had before been a relatively partitioned campus culture - the snack bar crowd, the library types, "Heritage Room hermits," jocks, Greeks, etc. - are now freely and comfortably intermingling in a commonality.
The old student center - with the exception of the snack bar, which, in the last two years, has seen its popularity plummet - was largely a transition point between classes and meals. Outside of these times, the Ethan Allen Room stood largely vacant minus the occasional introvert sitting alone at a computer or watching the bigscreen at low volume.
Aesthetically, the old center decidedly lacked taste. Those who contest the assertion that Hillsdale College changes slowly should just cast an observant eye at the old student center, its walls bearing plaques and photos and glass cases so old one wonders just what crime these bygone students committed to deserve such vapid prominence.
Yet today's Hillsdale College students now have a place to call their own. And many generations of new students will say the ceremonial goodbye to their parents during orientation weekend and then turn up the hill and see the College's new centerpiece. Thankfully for them, its walls are far too nice to allow forensics plaques and Women's Council photos.
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