Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2009
Ahhhhhh-mazing
Construction of the Warch Campus Center took more than two years to complete and for many students, was a lesson in patience and perseverance. Now that the campus center is open and the daily chaos associated with its construction is but a memory, students are eager to share their thoughts about what the new facility means for them and for the future of Lawrence University.
For the many students who have witnessed the process, the building has been the long awaited solution to past problems. To junior Isake Smith ’11, it is a place of collaboration. “I am looking forward to having 24-hour study space,” she said. “It is very inconvenient to be kicked out of the library at 2 a.m. and have no place else to go to write a paper or a lab except the dorms. Having study space as part of the new center of campus will help with group meetings and class projects.” After having lived in Sage Hall during her freshman year — in the shadow of the center’s looming construction crane — Smith was a little shocked to see the crane go the following year. “I remember looking at the structure and thinking, ‘Where is the crane? And how did they get it out of there?’”
Dorothy Wickens ’09, lived in Sage Hall with Smith during the main construction of the building exterior. “I thought I had chosen a room that would be away from the construction,” she said. “Instead I chose a room next to the spot that the dump trucks backed in to empty their load. I will always remember the sound of a dump truck’s metal doors slamming shut.” A recent graduate of Lawrence, Wickens loves the campus center although she regrets not being able to use it while a student here. “I’m both happy I left Lawrence when I did because of all the changes,” she said, “but also jealous of all that current students get to experience. The opening of the Warch Campus Center completely changes the way campus functions. Future generations of Lawrentians will never know the Lawrence that my classmates and I knew. At the same time, I’m sure that the facilities in the campus center will be far superior to the old buildings and students will experience an updated and perhaps more efficient campus.”
For freshman Claire Edwards ’13, using the Warch Campus Center has been an enjoyable experience thus far. “It is such a pretty building,” she said. While she was not able to fully experience life at Lawrence before the campus center was complete, Edwards believes the building to be an improvement. “When I visited campus, I had a meal at Downer and I was okay with eating there,” she said. “But, now that I have seen the selection of food at the Warch Campus Center, I am thrilled!”
Daniel Martin ’07, remembers the old land bridge between the Quad and the former Memorial Union, predecessor to Hurvis Crossing, being removed while working in the Campus Life Office next door. “I was unable to do any work one morning because a wrecking ball was pummeling the old supports of the bridge, shaking my entire office.” As one of the students who contributed to initial plans for the building, Martin saw first hand how much the university was willing to collaborate with students to make the new campus center a place that students would want to use. “I was one of a small group of student leaders who met with one of the architects to brainstorm how the fourth floor student activities space was going to be utilized.”
In fact, the administration made efforts to include the opinions of students every step of the way. While a student at Lawrence, Nathan Litt ’08, was a student representative to the Campus Center Planning Committee. “It was incredible to be able to see the ideas for the campus center and its design be translated into lines on paper which were then turned into a massive hole in the ground and finally, after the addition of tons of concrete and steel, see an incredibly beautiful building emerge,” said Litt. Now, after contributing both time and effort into the development of the campus center, Litt said its opening is a joyous event. “The new campus center is everything I thought it would be and more!”
While there is little doubt that the Warch Campus Center is an improvement to campus life, the building will not erase the fond memories of the buildings it is replacing. However, according to Litt, we shouldn’t think of the campus center as a replacement. “The new campus center is not the Union, Downer and Lucinda’s rolled into one big repackaged thing,” he said. “It is a different way of thinking about things… This building was something that campus was in need of for a long time and now we finally have it thanks to the hard work and generosity of many people. The most exciting thing is that the best is yet to come!”
