Brust: Recent construction projects show that CSU does not treat students equally
April 6, 2017
Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by the Collegian or its editorial board.
Colorado State University has made its mark as an excellent university for diverse majors. However, recent initiatives to renovate and construct new academic/athletic buildings does not resonate with student need. Although many different groups benefit from the changes to campus, other groups have been left in the shadows. Liberal arts and human sciences students suffer the most as the largest groups on campus. If CSU wants to keep its sparkling reputation, administration needs to focus more on the larger student body. The recently constructed football stadium and slaughterhouse are examples of neglect of the larger student body.
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In the 2015-2016 school year, CSU awarded degrees to 1,500 liberal arts majors and 600 degrees to engineering majors. Compared to the other colleges, the liberal arts school has the greatest amount of students.
Most are aware of the widely covered slaughterhouse that will make its mark between the Morgan Library and Animal Sciences building. On a moral and social level, I see no issue having a slaughterhouse on campus because it will be an excellent learning tool for animal science students. However, the number of animal science majors at the University are greatly outnumbered by other majors. CSU needs to create a more equal budgeting plan that encompasses to all students.
Obviously, certain majors require different educational tools. Engineering students need more equipment than English majors. I also understand that technical costs included in tuition vary by major. However these are minor differences; both engineering students and ethnic studies students pay the same tuition, $8,301 for in-state students and $25,010 for out-of-state students. I am aware that although tuition is the same, technology is more expensive and therefore technical majors require more learning tools. However, the Engineering has two buildings, multiple labs and the greatest chance at a high paying job immediately out of college. There is no valid argument that can claim liberal arts students have equal resources.
In light of the newly constructed football stadium, my argument is short. We already have a stadium that works just fine and football has nothing to do with academics.
Liberal arts majors are pushed to the margins. I am biased in the fact that I study in two liberal arts programs, political science and journalism. However, my platform as a reporter has allowed me to speak with multiple people from many different fields of study. One motif has stayed constant in my work: liberal arts programs are the least developed. While many science programs are given grants in addition to dealing with a small number of students, the premise stays the same. Liberal arts suffers in the following categories:
Student Media- There is no formal facility for CTV. Their offices are in the basement of the Clark building. Also, there is no formal building for all student media.
Student and Staff Health- The Clark building, where many liberal arts students spend their days, is basically falling apart. It is not up to fire code, has asbestos and has no windows in classrooms, which could cause potential health issues.
Overcrowding- 6oo engineering students graduate every year as compared to 1,500 liberal arts students. While engineering has multiple concentrations, liberal arts holds over 30 different majors such as journalism, political science, foreign languages and so forth. The entire staff and student body is reserved to the Clark building which cannot hold the incredible amount of staff and students without having to host liberal arts classes in other buildings… ironically I have had two classes in Engineering.
I could go on, but I will spare the reader from a lengthy proclamation. In the end, I know little about the financial ins and outs of the University. All I know is that there is no doubt certain majors are given preferential treatment, and student commentary has yielded no change as of yet. If change is to be sparked, it is not at the student level; it is the administration’s job to treat students equally.
Allec Brust can be reached at letters@collegian and online at @allecbrust
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Jane Doe • Apr 11, 2017 at 2:57 pm
Ok ok. I’m sick of seeing all this misinformation and poorly-thought-out opinion articles written in the Collegian. Let’s fix some of these assumptions and spread a bit of real information:
First of all, most of the big projects (like the slaughterhouse) are largely externally funded. The slaughterhouse is paid for by JBS USA, a company in Greeley. When they came to CSU and said they wanted to fund a slaughterhouse, CSU can only accept the money to do that one thing. They could decline the offer, but they can’t take the money and put it towards an Ethnic Studies department need. The Warner college will be getting a new addition to their main building starting this fall. This multi-million dollar expansion was funded by private donors, not the students. The WCNR administration worked to get the funding to do this, not the university administration. It just so happens that some colleges spend more time focusing on fundraising for renovations and some don’t. As a
If you recall, during the 2014-2015 school Eddy hall was renovated. Eddy Hall is home to the Ethnic Studies and Philosophy Departments, and a writing center – all housed in the liberal arts college.
The stadium is, in fact, a ridiculous waste of money and time, I agree, but it is not student money that is paying for it. It is all private donors that donated and bought bonds specifically for the stadium. I wish they put that much effort into making the academic side of campus as nice as the stadium, but I suppose there is nothing to do about it now.
Every single college has its own buildings, but each of those buildings has what are called General Assignment classrooms. These are rooms that are large enough to fit a good sized class and do not have any specialized equipment. All the classrooms in the 100 and 200 levels of Clark A, the big classroom in Eddy, BSB Engineering A 101, and a bunch of rooms in Plant Sciences, NR, Wagar, Military Sciences, Rockwell West, Education, Chemistry, and more are GA classrooms. Yes, these buildings are designed to be a space for a specific college, but the GA classrooms are shared so that the university can fit all the classes around campus with the best setup for all students. That’s why a liberal arts student can have a class in an engineering classroom, and vice versa. It’s not about capacity, it’s about efficiency.
Finally, if you want to have any say in how the future of this campus managed, and if you want to have some control of your student facility and technology fees (a student taking 15 credits pays $25 a semester for technology and $311.25 for facility fees), go to the fee advisory board meetings. Any student is allowed to attend them and have a say in where their student fees are going. There is the SFRB – the student fee review board, UTFAB – the University Technology Fee Advisory Board, UFFAB – the University Facility Fee Advisory Board, and ATFAB – the Alternative Transportation Fee Advisory Board. These boards can oversee 1-2 million dollars in student fees and they decide where they go.
Look, I know this is an opinion article and you are not required to use academic resources or do your research, but it doesn’t mean you can’t. This newspaper publishes articles that have little to no research done, and it erodes the reputation of the paper and the university as a whole. Collegian writers, step up your game.
disqus_BkrMz76GM3 • Apr 10, 2017 at 10:23 pm
Is there a quota for how many times you need to complain without giving thought to a counterpoint?
The BOLDED topics at the bottom are cringeworthy so I’ll let them lay; besides it seems every answer is “give them their own brand new building.”
The logic of “football has nothing to do with academics” could be used to say that the rec center, dorms, IM fields, anything besides teacher/student interaction has nothing to do with academics. Come back to Earth, you’ve been playing space cadet long enough.
Jacob Johnski • Apr 7, 2017 at 8:05 pm
Sooo… Let me get this straight. Allec wants redistribution of Alumni donations? How very BERNtastic of her! That is not the way this works sweetheart, see when Walter Scott, Jr. donated millions to the College of Engineering, he expects it to go to the College of Engineering hence why the Scott Building exists today. If you want the liberal arts programs to get new classrooms, or even buildings you have to ask the alumni for donations! I hear there is a massive line of Liberal Arts Alum just waiting for someone to take their millions of dollars they earned and build a new building, you must just be looking in the wrong place… 😉
Jane Doe • Apr 7, 2017 at 8:57 am
Ok ok. I’m sick of seeing all this misinformation and poorly-thought-out opinion articles written in the Collegian. Let’s fix some of these assumptions and spread a bit of real information:
First of all, most of the big projects (like the slaughterhouse) are largely externally funded. The slaughterhouse is paid for by JBS USA, a company in Greeley. When they came to CSU and said they wanted to fund a slaughterhouse, CSU can only accept the money to do that one thing. They could decline the offer, but they can’t take the money and put it towards an Ethnic Studies department need. The Warner college will be getting a new addition to their main building starting this fall. This multi-million dollar expansion was funded by private donors, not the students. The WCNR administration worked to get the funding to do this, not the university administration. It just so happens that some colleges spend more time focusing on fundraising for renovations and some don’t. As a
If you recall, during the 2014-2015 school Eddy hall was renovated. Eddy Hall is home to the Ethnic Studies and Philosophy Departments, and a writing center – all housed in the liberal arts college.
The stadium is, in fact, a ridiculous waste of money and time, I agree, but it is not student money that is paying for it. It is all private donors that donated and bought bonds specifically for the stadium. I wish they put that much effort into making the academic side of campus as nice as the stadium, but I suppose there is nothing to do about it now.
Every single college has its own buildings, but each of those buildings has what are called General Assignment classrooms. These are rooms that are large enough to fit a good sized class and do not have any specialized equipment. All the classrooms in the 100 and 200 levels of Clark A, the big classroom in Eddy, BSB Engineering A 101, and a bunch of rooms in Plant Sciences, NR, Wagar, Military Sciences, Rockwell West, Education, Chemistry, and more. Yes, these buildings are designed to be a space for a specific college, but the GA classrooms are shared so that the university can fit all the classes around campus with the best setup for all students. That’s why a liberal arts student can have a class in an engineering classroom, and vice versa. It’s not about capacity, it’s about efficiency.
Finally, if you want to have any say in how the future of this campus managed, and if you want to have some control of your student facility and technology fees (a student taking 15 credits pays $25 a semester for technology and $311.25 for facility fees), go to the fee advisory board meetings. Any student is allowed to attend them and have a say in where their student fees are going. There is the SFRB – the student fee review board, UTFAB – the University Technology Fee Advisory Board, UFFAB – the University Facility Fee Advisory Board, and ATFAB – the Alternative Transportation Fee Advisory Board. These boards can oversee 1-2 million dollars in student fees and they decide where they go.
Look, I know this is an opinion article and you are not required to use academic resources or do your research, but it doesn’t mean you can’t. This newspaper publishes articles that have little to no research done, and it erodes the reputation of the paper and the university as a whole. Collegian writers, step up your game.
Dixie Crowe • Apr 7, 2017 at 8:06 am
Animal sciences raised the funds for their buildings and got a corporate sponsor for the final amount needed for construction of phase II. They lost their first livestock pavilion from the 1920s to Clark and the second from the 1950s to the new biology and chemistry buildings currently under construction. Their enrollment may not be as high as others currently, but they’ve been a part of CSU since the land grant started this university and they’re growing. I assume you eat food and you’ll want smart people who care for their animals and resources under a changing climate to feed the world. Warner Colllege will get to add some new square footage because they went out and raised the money and got a generous sponsor for the rest. Yes, a lot of majors need better facilities, but they can do that by raising the funds required. I understand that journalism and a few other parts of liberal arts get to move into the classroom/office spaces of the new stadium. Do I wish the Temple Grandin equine center had been built when I was getting my undergrad in equine science? Yes. Honestly, I care more about the quality of the faculty and course work and being prepared to enter the workforce than any of the buildings on campus.
Vincent Braud • Apr 7, 2017 at 1:15 am
Next time before you waste your time talking out the side of your mouth, how about you do some research… maybe then you’ll look like less of a dumb ass. 😉