Plans for the Nexus, the new multi-use building which will replace Barnard's McIntosh Student Center, have raised major concerns among student group leaders.
The plans currently call for all but a few student group offices to be relocated to Lehman Library. While McIntosh is specifically designated a student center, Barnard administrators say that will not be the case with the Nexus.
"It's not a student center ... there's no one easy way to describe this building," said Barnard provost Elizabeth Boylan. "It's going to be owned by the entire community."
But many students say that trading a student center for a multi-use building is not acceptable.
"This is something the students aren't able to compromise on," SGA President Jeeho Lee, BC '04, said, arguing that all the student offices should remain in one building. "I don't think how passionately students feel has been communicated."
The original Nexus plan called for student offices to be excluded entirely from the building. Junior Class President Sunanda Sachatrakul, BC '05, said that student groups learned of the space allocation last semester and have since engaged in a dialogue with the administration about their desire to be in the Nexus. So far, the administration's reply had been that they "haven't cemented what's going into the Nexus yet," Sachatrakul said.
Two weeks ago, the Student Government Association wrote a statement to give to the administration that articulated members' worries about the ramifications of excluding student life from the new "heart of the campus." Titled "Student Sentiments Regarding the Current Plans for 'the Nexus' Program," the statement observed that, at McIntosh, "students can pick up their prize for voting, buy tickets to a play all while they wait for their smoothie to be made--these are the things that make McIntosh a campus center and not just an eatery."
Lee said that on the day the statement was submitted, Barnard College Dean Dorothy Denburg coincidentally offered to put four student spaces within the Nexus. The updated design, according to Lee, provides space within the Nexus for the College Activities Office, Office of Multicultural Affairs, SGA, and a club conference room.
But student government leaders say that is not enough.
"We're not ready to give up and accept four spaces," said SGA Vice President Amira Ibrahim, BC '05.
Ibrahim voiced the consensus of a group of student leaders that held ad hoc meetings to discuss the plans. "All the student representatives that were present decided ... that it's either all of us or none of us in the Nexus," Sachatrakul said.
"To create those four office spaces was really nice of them, but to this day I don't think I've gotten an answer about why it would be good for Barnard ... for the student groups to be in Lehman ... if it's important enough for us to be in here, then I think that they can create space for it," Lee said.
But administrators say the plans are more complicated than some students have presented. "I never used the number four," Denburg said. She added that she agrees with the SGA's statement that it is beneficial to organizations such as the OMA to be near where students linger to purchase food or coffee, and she affirmed her commitment to listening to student concerns.
"The provost and I, having really heard the students ... thought that we had to rethink some of the space assignments," Denburg said. Yet she added that she hopes to "get out of the trap of an all-or-nothing approach."
Despite Denburg's reassurances, though, some students' concerns were not assuaged. "I'm concerned with what is going to happen to the community when this building is built," Lee said. "The administration is risking a lot if they choose to put all the student groups and the student life offices in a building that's not the student center."
Boylan noted that the space newly designated for student offices in the Nexus is already replacing space for large classrooms. With classroom space eliminated, Boylan said she fears the Nexus will be less "of a shared purpose and shared ownership building."
Barnard President Judith Shapiro added, "It's kind of the living communal heart of a liberal arts college."
The Nexus is currently supposed to contain the Barnard library, an above-ground eating space, a performance space that seats 900, and various classrooms, departments, and offices. "The Nexus is going to help unpack all the buildings--it's not just a Lehman/Nexus swap," Boylan said.
Concerns over the Nexus have echoed many student complaints about Alfred Lerner Hall, the University's primary student center. Though Lerner opened in 1999 with the intention of functioning as the hub of undergraduate student life, a frequent concern has been that the multiple administrative offices and other uses of space have taken away from its purpose as a "hangout" locale for students.
Once vacated by the library, Lehman will be the primary student group space on the Barnard campus, with an expanded student store and other possible additions.
But Boylan said that Lehman's renovation, termed "Nexus II," is part of a long-range master plan which "could be 10 to 25 years away." In the more immediate future, the present interior of Lehman will be reconfigured. Shapiro said she hopes it will then be "dolled up a little more over time."
Lee noted that while the Nexus has a construction and fundraising timeline, Lehman does not. "For me, that reads 'no plan,'" she said.
Ibrahim, one of two students on the Nexus Advisory Committee, said she finds it "sketchy" that Lehman, the building that is to house student groups, has no timeline for renovation. Ibrahim also said she worries that student groups going into "this dingy, crappy building" will "have no foot traffic."
"It's saying, 'Yes, student life is important, but the student offices going in Lehman are not important to student life,'" Ibrahim said.
Lee said that Barnard is lucky to have a space like McIntosh, where students can hang out. "There's no benefit to student groups or to Barnard for us not to be in the Nexus. ... We need a reason other than space."
Boylan emphasized that the administration does not want to do anything "to reduce or spoil the kind of interactions between students and student activities personnel" that students treasure in McIntosh. "But there may be more than one way to achieve what the students have identified as being so special, and it may be achievable in a space that is not the Nexus," she said.
Denburg said, "It's hard for current students to imagine, but for the first 30 years of its life, McIntosh was a detested building." Changes such as the addition of Java City and a number of couches helped give the building its current favored status, she said.
"As somebody who was gratified to see students enjoying [McIntosh] ... we don't want to destroy what we've worked so hard to build. ... The Nexus will be at least as lively and vibrant," Denburg continued.
The construction timeline of the Nexus, originally slated to begin in March 2005, has been delayed. McIntosh was scheduled to be razed next March to begin building the Nexus in August. Now, the earliest demolition will take place is in the spring of 2006.
Ibrahim said that a meeting of the Nexus Advisory Committee, originally scheduled for May, has been pushed back to June. Boylan said that meeting will take place after the next Board of Trustees meeting so that there is more time to refine building plans.
Student leaders said they feel that the postponement serves to exclude students from the proceedings by holding the meeting when most students are not on campus. "It was either careless or intentional," Lee said. "Either way, it doesn't show that students are the core members of the committee."
Yet Lee remained optimistic that an understanding between students and administrators is feasible. "Everybody has the best intentions--it's just a matter of working them out," she said.