SGA and HCL also propose a staircase connecting upper and lower Dorm Road.
By Virginia Thomas
News Assistant
All they want for Christmas is their two sets of stairs. And, they’ll probably get at least one.
The Student Government Association, Housing and Community Living, and the Dining Services Committee is planning a meeting with Jim Brock, director of Housing, as soon as possible to discuss building stairs to connect at least two campus locations. This would include connecting upper and lower Dorm Road, as well as the Richard Rockwell Towers Apartments with Dorm Road, committee chair Tara Emerson said.
The Towers stairs would be built by the “Richard Rockwell Towers” sign at the intersection between Greek Row and Dorm Road. The second flight of stairs would connect the area between dorms 3 and 4 with the area between dorms 11 and 12.
“The Towers one is definitely going to be done,” Brock said.
Construction and campus planning has budgeted roughly $100,000 for the staircase, and “It’s my understanding that they’re getting really close to going out for bid (by a construction company),” Brock said.
Emerson said the SGA committee doesn’t see one set of stairs as CHRISTINE MORRISON/ASSISTANT priority over the other.
PHOTO EDITOR However, Brock said the Towers stairs are priority because of student input, the project has been in the works for longer, and “the other doesn’t need to be connected as much, because the dorms are all in one place.” Towers is more isolated from the residential community, Brock said.
This will be the committee’s main housing focus for the year. It beat out other ideas for campus improvement, including a convenience store at the corner of Dorm Road and Greek Row, a new living area in the Lovernich apartments, and the ability for students to use their meal cards in vending machines.
“Those are all extra little bonuses for us, whereas the stairs are something we really need,” said Emerson, a junior and the SGA Housing and Community Living Representative.
The committee said the stairs are necessary for reasons of convenience and safety. As it is, to get from lower dorm road into the Towers Apartments, one must walk all the way around to the other side of the buildings, or over to the far end of the building by the stairs to the Center for Communication and Business. And, residents of lower Dorm Road who want to get from their dorm to the one directly above them on upper dorm road, just 50 yards away, must walk all the way around the dorm road loop to get there.
Or, many adventuresome students blaze their own trail through the bushes up the steep hillside.
“It’s a safety issue, because people have fallen in both of these areas…especially when it rains and gets slippery or at night,” Emerson said. “If someone got really hurt over there, which is totally possible, then the school would be liable.”
Freshman Class President Joanna Mason, a committee member, said she’s fallen herself while trying to cut through.
“I’ve done it several times and I slipped…and it’s my own fault, I could have walked around. But it’s quicker to go up the hill,” she said.
The idea is far from new. Brock said the Towers stairs have been in the works for two years, and the Dorm Road stairs have been discussed for the last six to eight months.
Ryan Rush, a sophomore senator on the committee, said “There’s this huge desire for it and a want for it, but it’s always been pushed off and pushed off.”
Emerson blames this on the cost, which is steep. Originally, the Towers stairs were estimated at $200,000, but an alternative design will come closer to the budgeted $100,000, Brock said.
The committee isn’t necessarily going for broke, according to Rush. He said “right now we’re at the point where we’re trying to consider if there are any alternatives,” like paths or wooden staircases.
“Even getting lights put up so people could see where they’re walking would be a huge improvement,” Emerson said.
Rush said they’re more concerned with implementing some type of solution than getting a final project put in place, but their larger goal is still concrete stairs.
“I guess it’s a matter of staying on top of it and making sure Housing gets it done,” Emerson said. “We’re not going to ask for a bunch of things this year from Housing. At least for this semester that’s all we’re going to ask for.”
October 23, 2003