Construction on campus is generally a signal of new buildings.
In the last five years, the Student Center, Auburn Arena, Shelby Center and the Village have all been built, bringing freshness to campus, but also clutter and confusion.
Older buildings, such as Haley Center, Beard-Eves Memorial Coliseum, Sewell Hall, Funchess, Spidle, Parker and Allison, have been ignored.
As often happens, the old and worn is forgotten and pushed aside to welcome Progress, especially at Auburn, where aesthetics are an all-important part of the mystique.
These geriatric buildings, many constructed in the '50s and '60s, are starting to look their age.
Stairwells in the Haley Center have visible cracks, with a portion of the 2nd floor stairs even closed for safety issues.
The Coliseum has dangerous levels of mold in its basement and "pipes burst on a regular basis." (from "Campus buildings in need of major overhaul," A7, 9/16/10)
The Coliseum locker room, used by professors and other faculty, will close tomorrow.
The L building was recently condemned.
Most of the crumbling buildings are classrooms--something Auburn has neglected the last couple decades.
"While there has been a good bit of construction here at Auburn over the last couple decades," said Dan King, Auburn's assistant vice president of facilities, "there really hasn't been a tremendous amount of investment in classroom facilities." (from "Board of Trustees discuss core academic classrooms," A3)
More than $200 million dollars in "upgrades, renovations and replacing existing structures" was suggested at the Board of Trustees meeting to many of the aforementioned buildings.
Make no mistake: the University should be commended for improving research facilities and assorted athletic and student-centric buildings.
But Auburn is, first and foremost, one would hope, a center of higher education focused on learning and the betterment of its students.
And learning, in the realm of higher education at least, requires classrooms--classrooms large enough and with enough modern amenities to engender the learning process.
The Haley Center, to use just one example, is full of classes too small and not stocked with modern equipment--computers, projectors, etc.
Of course, trying to replace or perhaps even demolish that behemoth of poorly-planned modern architecture would take years of planning.
The zaniness of campus construction will triple when the Haley Center eventually falls.
No clear-cut answer is readily apparent.
We can only hope the thoughtful, generous, always spendthrifty members of the Board of Trustees have the students' best interests in mind.
A fool's hope, perhaps.
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