Tristan Donohoe
There has been a recent announcement of a complete renovation of Lowry Center. What will be “one of the most consequential projects at Wooster,” in the words of Dean Scott Brown, at best contradicts the College’s values as an educational institution, and at worst snubs the students and staff who currently embody it.
The vasts amount of money that would surely be poured into this effort are a gratuitous amount when compared to the Living Wage Campaign’s proposed $14.08 per hour wage floor for every staff member at the College. This should be enough to cause concern with these plans. Why is it that money is so readily available from the endowment for superficial polishings, but cannot be found when systemic problems fac- ing the human staff of this campus are brought to the administration’s attention?
But so be it — this money is a donation, and for that reason it’s coming with strings attached to where it’s going. Regardless, this plan is still absolutely tonedeaf to what needs to be refurbished at this institution.
If you were to ask the entire student body what requires renovation on this campus, I can say with absolute certainty that Lowry would be nowhere near the top of anyone’s concerns — in its place would appear the name of any of the 30-odd decrepit program houses. Black mold, gaping holes in the walls and floors, broken appliances and dislocated window sills are only some of the very common complaints I have heard and have personally experienced in the houses on campus. Although these hazards can be found in nearly every non-dormitory regardless of geographic location, the worst conditions are to be found (as most reading can confirm) in the houses on the eastern half of campus centered around Spink Street: Stadium House, Schlabach House and Hider House, among others.
It is not lost on me the plan that is presumably going on behind the scenes with regards to the houses on Spink Street. It’s my educated prediction that in the years to come, the housing administration will slip them so far into disrepair that they will condemn them as past the point of saving and will promptly commence demolition. Again, why is there no money from the endowment or donations to be put into the places where students are laying their heads down to sleep?
The most important goal of renovating Lowry Center, explicitly stated or not, is to attract prospective students from middle- and upper-class families in the same way that the new Ruth W. Williams Hall has attracted students for a very real increase in incoming STEM majors at the College. This seems like the only plausible reason for needlessly revamping the entire student center as opposed to any other dilapidated structure here for the current students attending.
But this is a grave mistake. Among the Graduate Qualities of The College of Wooster is the ability to “demonstrate ethical citizenship and embody a concern for social justice.” What student here, future or current, can simultaneously exhibit these qualities and support this unjustifiable waste of money? How can the administration call on the very students who will sleep amid health hazards and will fight for the humane treatment of their staff to participate in their own neglect?
In closing, we the students have addressed humanitarian needs and tangible solutions to them. The only money that’s available is for a new food court. In so few words: what a crock of shit.