ISU Bengal

Issue date: 8/30/06 Section: News

Imagine being able to go from a Math class and then simply cross the hall to go to your Biology class, while avoiding the commute across the campus, and trekking up and down the hills. Such are the dreams of ISU students. Now your dreams are becoming a reality thanks to one building, to be located along Martin Luther King Way-the Rendezvous Center.

By bringing classrooms from every department under one roof, as well as housing for over 300 hundred students, a new cafeteria, a café equipped with wireless internet, and The Spirit Shop, students will have a greater opportunity to meet other students they would previously not have had a chance to interact with. The building is funded more than 50% by state bonds and funding, while the rest is through already implemented housing fees. If everything continues to go as planned the Center will open for use in Fall of 2007.

Darrell Buffaloe, the Assoc. VP of Facility Services, stated, "It is theoretically possible that if someone picks their classes right they could move in there in the beginning of their Freshman year, they could stay there for 4 or 5 years and graduate and never have to leave the building."

The Rendezvous Center will contain 50 new classrooms that will be completely equipped with the newest technology and these classrooms will house subjects from every department across campus. You may be asking yourself, "what is the university going to do with the old classrooms", or "are they going to be offering more classes?" The plan is to take the old classrooms and renovate them to create more faculty offices and research centers for the faculty to use. By building new classrooms and renovating the old ones, ISU will be saving millions of dollars in the long run. In reference to the new classrooms Buffaloe stated, "This is one way we can save a whole lot of money."

The Center is also going to include a total of 72 apartments, containing 301 beds. This was included in order to respond to the on-campus housing that was removed over the past 6 years to create more faculty offices, such as Garrison Hall. In reference to the housing issue Buffaloe stated, "Essentially [we are] replacing one building we took out."

Also to be included in the Rendezvous Center is The Spirit Shop. A store containing all of the great merchandise also located in the campus bookstore. Funded by Efollet, the same company that runs the on-campus bookstore, the store will be geared more towards the fun part of campus life. It will contain merchandise such as sweatshirts, hats, and the other fun stuff, without a book in sight. There will also be a coffee shop that will, in time, become equipped with wireless internet connection such as the PSUB on campus. All of these ideas are meant to create a fun and inviting atmosphere within the building.

If the Rendezvous Center is going to give the students better classrooms, better faculty offices, more housing, and better facilities, why would anyone be against the construction? According to Buffaloe, the controversy stems mainly from miscommunication. The biggest misunderstanding is in reference to where the funding is actually coming from. Many students and faculty members believe that the funding is coming from student fees or faculty raises. Almost half of the funding is coming either from a state bond ($6.955 mil.) and the State Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council ($15.5 mil.) while the remaining $16. 354 million is from the student housing fees. No fees where raised or taken from another department to build this facility. According to Buffaloe, "If we [didn't build] the building, then there was no money." The idea came from former Governor Kempthorne. He wanted to try to jump start the economy by building a new building on each university campus in the state of Idaho. ASISU Senator Ashley Hargraves stated, "Housing does its best to promote the education and success of

students here at Idaho State, and I feel that the… funding provided through housing

students is going to better the University that they attend."

Another large source of miscommunication about the Rendezvous Center deals with the issue of parking. Many students and faculty members are worried about the increase in parking that the Rendezvous Center may bring. Some even felt that a parking garage would have better suited the university than the Center. Buffaloe explained that a parking garage would not have been funded by the state like the Center was. So in order to build a parking garage either tuition or parking fees would have been affected by a substantial increase. He also reassures the students that the Center will not increase the parking problem because it will not be increasing the student body. The students will still have the option to park at the Holt Arena and use the bus system to be dropped off right in front of the building. Facility Services are also going to let the student body vote on whether or not they want to convert Cadet Field into a parking area, which will either increase fees or parking fees. This option is going to be made available to all students to vote on in the fall of 2007.

All together the Rendezvous Center will help to unite campus. What a novel idea.

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