Source: Northwestern University. Olivia Bobrowsky/The Daily Northwestern
Northwestern’s 50-year strategic plan, which will make dramatic changes to NU’s campus, has been altered to include the building of a new student center by the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, said Ron Nayler, associate vice president for facilities management.
The plan, which NU administrators announced last fall, includes removing and relocating existing buildings, building new ones and reshaping the Lakefill Lagoon.
The administration does not anticipate any serious changes to the preexisting plan based on NU’s shrinking endowment in the economic downturn, Nayler said. NU administrators stressed that the plan is merely a blueprint and emphasized the need for flexibility.
Changes were made to the project because of student response to last fall’s presentations explaining the plan to community members, Nayler said. The construction of a new student center, for example, has now become an important issue for future University President Morton O. Schapiro as well as for the Associated Student Government’s incoming administration, said ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin, a Weinberg senior.
It is often difficult for students to have an impact on long-term decisions because they are not there to see the changes over time, said Nate Perkins, ASG student services vice president. But many of the proposed changes align with concerns students have now, such as the need for more performance space, the McCormick junior said.
“We can have an impact on the future and their experiences,” he said. “For me, I want to be able to look back and see a continued strong interpretation of Northwestern in the future.”
Perkins formed an ad hoc ASG committee to represent the “student voice.” Situated in the middle of campus off Sheridan Road, the student center could serve as a “gateway for off-campus students” and a “representation of the university to the Evanston community,” he said.
It would also be an improvement on the current facility, Sales-Griffin said. Compared to peer institutions like Washington University in St. Louis or the University of Notre Dame, Norris University Center is “behind the pack,” he said.
“The current student center is not adequately providing for the students,” he said. “It’s not serving as a hub for students to interact socially and work productively for their student groups and class projects. The new student center should serve as a melting pot for the undergraduate population.”
The committee also proposed encouraging housing on North Campus, rather than build housing south on Clark Street, to allow students the experience of living on a campus separate from Evanston’s downtown, Perkins said. The committee also suggested building a new dorm and dining hall with an expanded version of Lisa’s Café in place of Bobb Hall (which would be demolished under the plan) and modernizing Foster-Walker Complex. ASG has not received a response from the administration regarding these ideas, he said.
“This is all just talking right now,” Sales-Griffin said. “We’re just putting the issue on the table. With Schapiro coming, we can show we’ve done the research and why we need to make this an issue.”
But Sales-Griffin said ASG will continue to work with the administration on the plan for the foreseeable future.
“We’re not going to see the return,” he said. “But in five or 10 years hopefully we’ll have a student center alumni will be proud to come back to.”
THE PLAN IN PERSPECTIVE
The 50-year benchmark is relative, Nayler said. The proposed changes fall under a “framework plan,” which will keep each project in line with the overall principles of the plan but allow for changes on an individual basis.
“We wanted to make sure we emphasized that it was a flexible plan so that we didn’t have timetables in there and we didn’t describe what or how we should build,” he said.
While the plan has not faced any changes due to the current economic situation, the amount of time before it’s completed could change, he said.
“We really don’t know,” he said. “We’re hopeful that the economic downturn we see is one that can change and become positive in a couple of years, and if so, there shouldn’t be any substantial impact on a 50-year plan.”
Faced with decreases in their endowments, other universities have had to put projects on hold, said Rick Dumont, a principal at Sasaki Associates, the consulting firm for the plan. Harvard University has had to stop major projects and cut back on new ones, but other schools, including Ohio State University and Fordham University, have had no problems, he said.
“Even the large, private, well-endowed universities are feeling a hit,” he said. “Most institutions are feeling it. Some are feeling it very strongly, some are behaving more cautiously and some are even moving ahead.”
But the time frame for NU’s plan should not be the main consideration, Dumont said. The university should address each project when there is the need – and the funding, he said.
Dumont said he did not know how the economy would affect NU’s plan in the long run, but he said any action on the project would depend on what resources were available and how the administration chose to use them.
“What will be very interesting will be how the new president will review this effort and master plan,” he said.
