Administrators, staff, and students met on Friday, October 30 to discuss campus planning in the CMC Master Plan. Since the Spring of 2009, when plans to alter the campus’s structure and appearance were announced, CMC has quietly endeavored to weave together student desires and practical requirements and has held two student workshops on the matter. At this stage, permanent decisions have not been made so student feedback is at a premium. The architectural firm Moore Ruble Yudell led the both workshops, beginning the second by asking its participants to “close your eyes and tell us how CMC culture will continue and evolve in the next 5-10 years.” Among many suggestions, concerns relating to Ducey’s aged gym equipment, CMC’s inadequate pool (in comparison to that of Scripps), and a lack of outdoor gathering locations (such as amphitheaters) were brought up the most. Several students also requested that CMC develop a unique and cohesive architectural style, as well as many other more specific suggestions pertaining to interior design.
After the group exercise, representatives from Moore Ruble Yudell presented on CMC’s sustainability as a campus and offered several statistics pertaining to our water and gas usage. According to Moore Ruble Yudell, approximately 70% of water consumed is used to irrigate the many lush lawns on campus, the average student expends roughly 30 gallons per day, and 50% of energy consumed on site is for gas. Many of the future plans involve introducing environmentally friendly practices like rain water collection to make CMC more green.
Another issue the representatives from Moore Ruble Yudell hope to resolve is that of parking. Even with freshmen prohibited from having cars on campus, finding a parking space can often be difficult; Moore Ruble Yudell discussed subterranean parking as a solution. The primary locations of the anticipated parking would be underneath the senior apartments and underneath a proposed new Psychology building, which would stand where McKenna Auditorium and Heggblade currently do. The final activity of the meeting involved creating a collage of ideas and images on poster boards to further help Moore Ruble Yudell gauge student opinions.
Given the Board of Trustees unanimous vote to move toward a potential enrollment of 1,400 CMC students, these renovations must be made to meet the needs of additional as well as existing students. The campus planning workshop provided a forum for students to involve themselves in a project that will ultimately affect all of us, but whether the ideas generated by students will be used remains to be seen.