By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
.
Construction is not just bulldozing away our Mall - it is seizing the good ol' student union to boot.
While the Integrated Learning Center (ILC) is a project with valuable academic goals in mind, it is difficult to understand why UA students are being forced to sacrifice their student union.
As phase two of student union construction kicks off, UA students are looking around wondering where their beautiful campus has gone.
UA students will return to fall semester with a fence wrapped around the engineering building and current bookstore entrance, and stretching across two-thirds of the west end of the Mall. By this time, ILC fences are scheduled to be taken down.
The new construction setup is scheduled to begin in July 2001 and will not finish until August 2002.
Saying goodbye to the student union, and the entire Mall area in front of it, is like saying goodbye to the heart and soul of the UA campus. The madness began with the fall of Gallagher Theater. It continues over spring break as ASUA offices and the Arizona Daily Wildcat newsroom will relocate to accommodate construction schedules.
Goodbye to the Cellar, too. Ambidextrous Armada and The Charles Darwin Experience must find new homes.
As the union is bulldozed to the ground, pieces of UA culture are tossed aside.
While UA administrators and construction-project officials try to convince us that the temporary inconvenience is worth it for long-term UA goals, their valid arguments are just not as convincing as they should be.
Construction is in its awkward mid-stage, like a kid in puberty whose glowing appearance is just below a mass of zits. Walking around annoying detours and running into blocked-off portions of campus leaves UA students befuddled as to how the incredible new structures will benefit them.
According to Swinerton and Walberg general superintendent Bob Bertolini, the UA's new union is "setting the bar" for unions across the country. Twelve million pounds of steel and 18,000 cubic yards of concrete will help construct this grandiose place for UA students to hang out.
It will be a 400,000 square-foot Taj Mahal that the entire country can gaze at in awe.
Nice. But we want our old union back.
Next semester will be an even bigger shocker. The part of the Mall in front of the UofA Bookstore will be the "staging ground" for "steel rods, cranes and other construction vehicles."
The real stage-our stage, where local bands grace us during the lunch hour - will be relocated to somewhere near the Administration building.
The heart of the union -the bookstore and even the familiar ASUA sign- will be a thing of the past.
Improvement sometimes requires sacrifice of what we love most. But while projects that bring about academic improvements are justifiable, an entirely new student union seems like an extra expense that takes away valuable pieces of UA culture.
Goodbye, student union.
