As Norris University Center celebrated its 29th birthday last week, some administrators expressed concern that fundraising efforts for renovations to the building have not progressed.
Although the number of students using Norris has swelled with more than 2 million yearly entrants in 2001, the building once described as “cold” and “much too concrete” has remained unchanged.
To expand the building, fundraising for a renovation project originally estimated at about $20 million – more than twice the $8.8 million the original construction cost – was begun in 1998 as a part of Campaign Northwestern. But as six new buildings in Campaign Northwestern have received about half of their funding, contributions to the Norris renovations have remained stagnant at about $4 million.
“It’s not easy,” Vice President for University Development Ronald Vanden Dorpel told The Daily in December about trying to solicit donations for the project. “We haven’t had a very responsive feedback on our efforts from alumni.”
Norris University Center Director Bill Johnston said alumni who donate to Campaign Northwestern might not think to give money to Norris because they remember the hub of student life on campus as Scott Hall on University Place.
“We hear from people who were here about Scott Hall, the Scott Grill, for example,” Johnston said. “Then when they built Norris, there were 10 to 15 years worth of students that came to a building that wasn’t as active.”
University President Henry Bienen, who called the lack of donations “one of the surprises of the campaign,” said Jan. 15 that raising the money might require a large grant to the campaign. Support for Campaign Northwestern has been strong in fields such as life sciences but not in student services, he said.
In contrast to the less than $4 million raised for Norris, NU received a $11.5 grant in September for a Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center on the Chicago campus also received about $62 million in donations in 2001.
“People seem very excited because there are so many breakthroughs in research,” Bienen said. “They may be saying ‘I’ll support this, and I’ll really affect the world.’ They may not be saying the same thing about a renovated Norris.”
In addition to the lack of funds, Bienen also said the original Norris ground floor expansion plan, which he reviewed in November, needed revision.
“The idea turned out to be very expensive – plus they weren’t even sure it would increase the seating space,” Bienen said.
The updated renovation plans call for more eating space on the ground level, the addition of a wing to the south side of the building and general refurnishings, Johnston said.
The addition of the south side wing is particularly important to student theater groups, who would receive two new black-box theaters to stage performances, Johnston said. Norris annually hosts about 35 student theater performances.
“We probably are home to the country’s largest student-produced theater outside of the theater department,” Johnston said. “We need those black-box theaters so we can free up other rooms.”
Bienen said that although funding the renovations is a priority for him, he is “not very overly optimistic” that the remaining $16 million can be raised by the time Campaign Northwestern ends in August 2003.
If efforts to raise the money prove unsuccessful by the deadline, Bienen said he probably would continue raising donations to fund the project after the campaign’s end.
“They’re always raising money in a university,” he said. “Maybe we’ll have a mini-campaign for Norris, just focus in like a laser and try and raise a little money.”
