OSH was one of the only buildings I remembered after my mildly overwhelming orientation tour at the U. While it wasn’t much to look at on the inside, its beautiful west-facing garden, central location and the prospect of enjoying endless hours of humanities and English classes throughout the years made it somewhat appealing.
The U plans on tearing OSH down in order to rebuild it (quite honestly, it could use a little bit of clean up work) in the upcoming years. The only issue is that we, as students, are not sure when this will take place and, as such, students are mildly concerned; where will the glut of classes currently held in OSH going to be taught in the interim?
Construction is currently booming on campus. For example, the Student Life Center, the beautiful new gym open to enrolled students and paid for by student fees, was finished last year. The Lassonde Studios, a building for student entrepreneurs to live and learn in, is under construction near HPR highway, and another building for the business school was discussed in the last board of trustees meeting. While the business school is funded in part by an outside donor, and therefore has different acceptance rates, fees, building opportunities, etc., these exclusionary opportunities are making the U’s student body wonder if, perhaps, the funds for our school are being distributed in an uneven way.
A 13.5 million dollar video board and sound system was just approved for the Rice-Eccles football stadium, which will use a square footage of 10,502 feet to enhance the experience of those viewing the game. The U just became a Pac-12 school four years ago and football obviously generates a great deal of revenue for the U — it is no surprise that we would pour a lot of money back into the sport and all it encompasses.
What the powers that be forget about, however, is the fact that people do not come to the U merely for the football team (having 33,000 undergrad players would probably get a little cluttered). The research done by the medical students, the professional-level performances put on by those in the College of Fine Arts, the plethora of students who attend this school for the magnificent skiing opportunities — these are only a few of the other facets that draw students to this college.
The Marriott Center for Dance, home to the Ballet and Modern dance departments, which also rents its stage to a handful of schools, dance companies and performance companies throughout the valley, was just able to afford to fix the sinks in the multiple bathrooms throughout the building — this process took two years.
Who knows where College of Humanities students will take classes in the upcoming years? Depending on funding, tuition and building opportunities, who knows when OSH will be fully rebuilt? According to Ruth Watkins, Senior VP for Academic Affairs, it should be finished by 2019, but we should of course take that estimate with a grain of salt. In the meantime, at least we know we’ll be able to see the next home games on a massive, crystal-clear screen.