The University's construction binge
Issue date: 6/9/06 Section: Ed-Op
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On top of a new law school and dorm, as well as renovations to the Quad and the parking garage, the University plans yet another construction project. Yes, they intend to tear down Matheson Hall. It has served us well, but its time has come. Bennett S. LeBow generously donated ten million dollars, and University President Constantine Papadakis found another ten million sitting around in matching funds. Show us the money, and we'll show you the way. You know the rest.
The University is making progress by leaps and bounds with record tuition increases in a city where cost of living isn't exactly low. Perhaps a demographic shift is at work here. It seems that Anthony J. Drexel's vision of an Ivy-League education for the working class is being traded for a working class education for Ivy-League costs.
Nah.
Let's have that new building. And we at The Triangle submit the following demands:
The new building must be shiny, because us college students are preoccupied with shiny things. No more boring concrete and orange brick. Our education depends on how shiny the buildings are, or else we will lose our creativity, color chalk notwithstanding.
We want those neat bridges between Pearlstein and Matheson to be kept as well. Come to think of it, let's build bridges to Creese while we're at it. We rank at the top in universities with wireless internet, so let's make history and be the first to go completely indoors. Maybe we can secure another government research grant to study whether self-contained students have longer life-spans without breathing Philadelphian air. The anti-tobacco lobby would be pleased.
It better not be an iceberg like the Cira Centre next to 30th Street Station. (It does get points for having a neat bridge, however.) We don't want to provoke our next-door neighbors at UPenn into building a bigger obelisk than the Huntsman building. Remember, part of Papadakis' strategy is making sure the competition is asleep at the wheel. Stealth is key.
The University is making progress by leaps and bounds with record tuition increases in a city where cost of living isn't exactly low. Perhaps a demographic shift is at work here. It seems that Anthony J. Drexel's vision of an Ivy-League education for the working class is being traded for a working class education for Ivy-League costs.
Nah.
Let's have that new building. And we at The Triangle submit the following demands:
The new building must be shiny, because us college students are preoccupied with shiny things. No more boring concrete and orange brick. Our education depends on how shiny the buildings are, or else we will lose our creativity, color chalk notwithstanding.
We want those neat bridges between Pearlstein and Matheson to be kept as well. Come to think of it, let's build bridges to Creese while we're at it. We rank at the top in universities with wireless internet, so let's make history and be the first to go completely indoors. Maybe we can secure another government research grant to study whether self-contained students have longer life-spans without breathing Philadelphian air. The anti-tobacco lobby would be pleased.
It better not be an iceberg like the Cira Centre next to 30th Street Station. (It does get points for having a neat bridge, however.) We don't want to provoke our next-door neighbors at UPenn into building a bigger obelisk than the Huntsman building. Remember, part of Papadakis' strategy is making sure the competition is asleep at the wheel. Stealth is key.
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