Just as campus is finally settling down after years of construction and renovations, the administration wants to start the whole process all over again.
On Aug. 28, the Charlatan reported the administration is searching for funds to add two new buildings to the university and on Sept. 11 the university announced a $10-million donation to kickstart the funding drive for a new building for the Sprott School of Business.
While Carleton’s continued growth is important, an entire generation of students has only known this university in a state of transition.
These students have had to deal with the growing pains of expansion and graduated before they could take advantage of it.
Now that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it turns out there’s a good chance a whole new generation of Ravens will have to put up with the sounds of jack-hammers outside their windows and avoiding bulldozers on the way to class.
These projects do bring undeniable benefits to Carleton. They make our campus more friendly to the environment, more efficient, and much more attractive.
But isn’t it time to let the place breathe a little bit?
Or, the school could pursue a new expansion policy that doesn’t necessarily have to come at the cost of the average student’s convenience. After more than 70 years, it’s about time Carleton opened a new campus.
Along with announcing the two new buildings, the Charlatan reported the school was in talks with both Cornwall and Niagara Falls about becoming home to a potential Carleton satellite campus, allowing to solve the space issue efficiently.
These talks come on the heels of the Ontario government’s January pledge to fund the construction of satellite campuses for universities with high undergraduate enrollment and shrinking space.
No one can argue that previous construction efforts weren’t disruptive to the learning experience promised to Carleton students.
For the majority of last year, the library was under heavy renovation. Who can forget trying to cram for exams while the sounds of construction workers drilling, hammering, and welding rang in their ears?
In the fall of 2011, the Lennox and Addington residence was opened while still under construction. Those inaugural residents were treated to 6 a.m. wake-up calls by the ringing of trucks backing up, erratic showers, and blackouts.
What’s more, they had to pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of staying there.
Apart from these major disturbances to campus life, minor annoyances flourished as well.
For instance, work on the new parking garage on the north of campus stopped O-Train service on the weekends and the addition to the Herzberg Lab affected traffic on University Drive.
Carleton’s limited space was a concern as far back as 2010 in the Carleton Campus Master Plan, which laid out the last four years of construction on campus. The document proposed seeking out expansion into the experimental farmland for further building.
But now with the provincial government ready to support us, it’s time for the school to stop trying to squeeze space out of our surrounding area and break new ground instead.
In the meantime, new students can come to Carleton and see a modern, beautiful, fully built institute for higher learning.
