This year’s senior class gift has an answer for students worried about a drastic 2010 tuition increase: moveable chairs.
Thursday, the Associated Students of the University of Utah Senate approved $20,000 toward the gift, titled “Reimagining the Plaza,” a contest in which students would draft plans to redesign the Library Plaza into a sustainable social center. ASUU hopes to raise an additional $20,000, which would be used to realize the winning plaza makeover.
The contest would encourage students to include moveable chairs and a food stand and to consider sustainability in their plans. Ideally, the new design would be completed by fall 2010, with hopes that the plaza would be transformed into a sustainable, social gathering place for students.
How to design a space more sustainable than an expanse of concrete is beyond us, but that isn’t the only issue with the proposed gift. Spending several thousand dollars to create a social venue for students might be more understandable if the Union wasn’t already designed to fill that role. Aside from questions of necessity, it is doubtful that students would adopt the new social space. Despite occasional efforts to reverse the trend, the U is a commuter university, and some moveable chairs, a firepit and another place to order coffee won’t be enough to keep students on campus. In the long term, commuter students are more likely to continue using the plaza as a transit area than to utilize new social functions.
More practically, the social merits of moveable chairs can quickly vanish when they translate into stolen chairs, with no funds available for replacements. Meanwhile, any food stand installed in the plaza would have to be an extension of Chartwell’s because of the U’s contract with the food service vendor. In that case, Chartwell’s, not students, should foot the bill for a new location. On top of all the logistical problems, the contest nature of the gift means $40,000 will be dedicated toward a project before it has a plan of action.
Some ASUU senators have expressed doubts about the gift. Cameron King, ASUU senator from University College, suggested using the $20,000 to create 20 scholarships of $1,000 instead. In response, Erica Andersen, ASUU senior class president, said it is a great idea, “but that’s benefiting 20 students one time.” Granted, the scope of 20 one-time $1,000 scholarships is limited, but they would make a significant, measurable difference in the lives of students. The implied ability of the plaza redesign to benefit all students forever is likely to fall short.
In addition to being practical, creating scholarships would send a message that ASUU and the senior class is aware of the financial worries of the student body. With students facing a sizeable tuition increase next year, scholarships would ultimately be more beneficial.