With an increasingly complex, technologically advanced and dynamic world, DU has attempted to create a more modern campus through building a whole new infrastructure to provide students the tools they need to succeed in their future endeavors. From creating the Daniel Felix Ritchie School for Engineering and Computer Science to expanding the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, DU is advancing its ability to provide students with advanced institutions that improves students’ education.
However at the same time, the University has turned a blind eye to improving other critical aspects of student life and existing infrastructure, such as improving dorm facilities and modernizing older classrooms. DU has tunnel vision, intently focused on building the university of the future, while neglecting the university of the past. In order to move forward, DU must heavily invest in modernizing its existing infrastructure, or risk leaving half of campus in a dark age cursed with derelict and decrepit buildings.
Throughout the past couple of years, DU has launched multiple initiatives, such as the ASCEND campaign and Imagine DU. These initiatives have collected huge donations, initiated multiple projects to create new academic programs and resources on campus and dreamt of a high-tech campus fit for the 21st century.
Yet, within these carefully designed plans allocating millions of dollars to new programs and buildings, there is little to no discussion about modernizing existing buildings and facilities that most directly affect student life. There is no publicly announced plan to renovate Halls, Towers and JMac dorms, which all consistently have problems with commonly used resources, such as washers, dryers and elevators and lack modern amenities to make dorms more enjoyable and hospitable. There is no publicly announced plan to renovate Sturm Hall either, which hosts an incredible amount of classes but still resembles the classrooms of the past, with a projector being the most advanced piece of technology in the room. With $490 million raised from the ASCEND campaign, a $460 million endowment fund and net assets of $1.2 billion, there is no mention of renovating and recreating the buildings of the past.
Even discussions about renovating old buildings, such as plans to improve the Driscoll Student Center, have gone nowhere for years and there have been no serious discussions by DU to create a better student center that students would want to use on a daily basis and be a center for students to relax, socialize and have fun.
USG’s Secretary of Community Partnerships Adam Hammerman has consistently advocated for a renovated student center that would be better utilized and more accessible to students, but as he stated in a previous Clarion article, projects like the new John J. Sie International Relations complex and the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science take priority over renovating Driscoll.
Instead of focusing on improving existing infrastructure and making the best out of what DU already has, the University has an almost bizarre fixation with constantly building for the future, while the rest of campus remains in the past. While DU tries to move forward into the future and build DU of tomorrow, it is doomed to remain in the past if the University does not invest in renovating and improving its existing infrastructure.
It is essential that the University begin to evaluate how it can improve and develop its existing academic buildings and residence halls and actually fund renovations to improve the infrastructure that already exists on campus.
