Ticket 2 Ride

Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents: “Every time we talk about taking buildings offline there is always groups that have a lot of nostalgia about the building.”

Perhaps I’ve grown into a grumpy old alum, not in tune with the times or the vision of my alma mater. I say all of the above. Nostalgic? Yes. Tradition? Yes. Rabble-rouser? At times. Grumpy? More each day.

Kansas universities are anxious to remove old buildings and facilities. Hail to the future!

“THE GATEWAY IS A ONCE-IN-GENERATION PROJECT TO TRANSFORM OUR CAMPUS AND DRIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGHOUT THE REGION. SPECIFICALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL CREATE EXCITING NEW AMENITIES FOR STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES AND VISITORS WHILE PROVIDING KANSAS FOOTBALL THE FACILITIES IT NEEDS TO COMPETE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.” – Douglas A. Girod, Chancellor, University of Kansas

Wow. That’s such a powerful statement it’s in bold type!

For this gateway project, the football stadium is now rubble, to be replaced as part of a half a billion dollar mega-project of a convention center and hotel. Admittedly, the stadium was old and the athletic department had pumped millions into recent renovations, but it wasn’t a show palace. Sports is a race, to somewhere.

Ten years from now, this gateway project might be looked at as the greatest thing the university has done in the past century. Time will tell.

Little by little, the university has been rebuilding itself and paving the future with bonds and interest payments. To be fair, private fundraising is helping to replace the football stadium, as wealthy donors and corporations buy into public places of learning. Some of these deals have merit, while others are questionable for taxpayers. Sometimes I wonder what they are teaching at KU.

Elsewhere on campus. One of the buildings that the university has been wanting to reduce to dust is Smith Hall, the old school of religion building. It sits at a strategic location, directly across the street from the Kansas Union, the hub for student activities, and on the other corner, the Alumni Center. Valuable real estate. Instead of maintaining and possibly refurbishing the building, the university wants it gone. Religious studies have been taught at that location since 1901. The land Smith Hall sits on, was only acquired by the university in recent years, and Smith Hall was built with private fundraising.

Smith Hall has little personal memory for me, although I had one class there. The art in front of the building is rather iconic, designed by local artist Eldon Teft. A modern-looking building when it was constructed in 1967, it’s outlived its stay, so be gone. The matter is before the Kansas Legislature, so the fate of Smith Hall is up in the air at the moment.

A few years back, the university ceased using the familiar the steam whistle used to mark the end of hourly class. “The whistle was first used as a 7:45 a.m. wake-up call and a nightly announcer of curfew, but on March 25, 1912, it became a means to signal the end of hourly classes.” Public pushback was immediate and loud. To replace the broken steam whistle was expensive, so they said. Imagine an institution with billions of dollars worth of endowment having trouble raising a few thousand dollars to rescue the steam whistle. It was done, by a group of alumni and other generous souls.

As a freshman attending my first classes, the KU campus was an amazing place to explore. I grew up in the university town, so I was no stranger to the campus. While much has changed in the ensuing years, as one might expected, what is most bothersome is the corporate feel of this public learning institution. Money raised, and ranking (on all kinds of lists), seem the driving forces. KU had a different personality then.

The university campus had all kinds of nooks and quirky little areas. When I walk the campus today, what I see is a buttoned-down, paved-over, sterile environment. I hardly feel welcome. The landscape is choking with regulatory signage and restrictions. Maybe this is how all places of higher learning are now. Grow, modernize, research & development, scientific advancement, grow the endowment. Money is the greatest god in the universe.

I’m spoiled, having attended there when there was a daily student newspaper, in print. When the student union offered films of all genres, nightly, and sponsored concerts on campus. Walking the campus was safe, and it was welcoming. I’m glad that I experienced life there, and retain fond memories of the place and times.

Publish or perish. Evolve or dissolve. The world moves on. Time waits on no one.