Witherspoon Student Center was in line for a renovation in five years after a study and community forum. At the forum, renovations were planned by the Executive Committee and Design Team as well as Student Centers Board of Directors (SCBOD). However, the renovations have now been delayed to 10 years out to focus on other projects on campus.
According to the Witherspoon Student Center Renovation Study, the renovation is estimated to cost upwards of $25 million, however the renovations to utilities that need to be replaced soon are estimated to cost over $14 million.
Patrick Neal, director of Student Media Advising, said that even though a complete renovation is years away, utilities such as the elevator, bathrooms and the structure can be updated with the help of SCBOD.
“What’s important to us is that even though a full walls-in renovation is going to be some years off now, our hope is that the student centers is going to work with us to make, maybe not dramatic improvements to the building,” Neal said. “But certainly, it is an older building and it’s going to require a lot of T.L.C. over the next 10 years before that renovation.”
Neal also expressed that making a lot of updates to the facility in the immediate future could be a waste of thousands of dollars on improvements that would get lost in renovations.
“Even though 10 years sounds like a long time, it’s really not,” Neal said. “I think we need to work with the student centers to be judicious and identify those things that really need to be addressed in the near term and then also continue to work with them and identify those things that may be better addressed in a walls-in renovation.”
Aditi Dholakia, a fourth-year studying communication and a Student Media representative for SCBOD, said that she is unsure if Witherspoon will receive smaller updates during the next 10 years.
“They said that because our resources have been allocated elsewhere, Witherspoon is not getting renovated for another 10 years,” Dholakia said. “Now, I don’t know if that even includes if we’re even going to get updates in regards to a better elevator, better bathrooms or the Veteran’s Association that has been asking for a door. I don’t know if that has been pushed out 10 years or the whole thing that’s been pushed out 10 years and we’re still going to get some new additions over the course of the next few years.”
Dholakia said that the only major discussions that have been had about funding were through the study and the presentations in April 2017. Along with that, funding for the project has not yet been allocated because, at the moment, the focus is on separate enterprises on campus.
“Beyond just what’s in this study they haven’t really given it much more thought,” Dholakia said. “I think a large reason of that is because they don’t have the funding set up for it yet. They’ve only talked about Witherspoon a couple times and those were just because I asked them to and both time they were just like right now we’re focusing on other things.”
There are currently two scenario blueprints that include the African American Cultural Center, Military & Veteran Resource Center, Campus Cinema, as well as lounge and cafe areas for students to use that are similar to those at Talley Student Union. Student Media, which currently resides on the third floor of Witherspoon, is not included in one of the scenarios (Scenario B) and in the other (Scenario A), Student Media loses 600 square feet of space.
As a whole, SCBOD is unsure where the other organizations that are currently located in Witherspoon will move to during the renovation. SCBOD is uncertain where Student Media will have to move if the Executive Committee and Design Team decide to go with Scenario B.
For Dholakia, the renovation is a large concern because Student Media is a large stakeholder that could lose its place and finding a space is difficult as other buildings, such as Talley Student Union, have no more space for large organizations.
“I’m always advocating for Student Media to stay where we are just because this is where we have been and since they don’t know where they are going to send us even during the renovation is worrying to me,” Dholakia said. “Because we need a significant amount of space and not just Technician, it’s including WKNC which needs a lot of effort in relocating just because of their equipment and it includes Agromeck and Nubian Message and then the business office and [Technician]. That’s a lot of people that are going to have to be relocated.”
Neal said that while historically, Witherspoon has not been the home of Student Media, the location is beneficial to the entire organization. However, if a better space was open to Student Media at that time, he would be open to the move.
“We would just have to take a long careful look at what that space was, if the option were eventually adopted where we left this building and we were going to a space that’s better for us then, my goodness, everybody wins,” Neal said. “But, if no such space is available or identified from a location standpoint, we are perfectly happy to stay in Witherspoon forever.”
Disclaimer: Aditi Dholakia is currently the Opinion Editor for Technician.
