FAU has become a clichí© — the one thing that remains the same is how much it changes.
Looking back at photos from the early sixties, when the school was founded, the Boca campus is nearly unrecognizable. Buildings sat in the middle of an empty campus that had once been Boca Raton Army Air Field. The first graduation ceremony FAU had saw only 29 students receive diplomas.
While our campus is certainly superior to what it once was, I caní_t help but think how much easier it must have been to find a parking spot.
According to Florida Atlantic University, a book by Donald Curl about our schoolí_s history, a majority of the buildings on campus have only been built in the past 10 years or so. Buildings such as Science and Engineering, Physical Sciences, the College of Education, the Social Sciences building, and the Visual Arts and Performing Arts building, among others, have only been around since 1990 or later.
Even when I look back at my first year at FAU, the campus was incredibly different. Take, for instance, the University Center. When I was a freshman, the UC was much smaller. It was without recent additions such as the new entrance, convenience store, hair salon, travel agency and various kiosks.
Then, the bookstore was housed in the University Center, not in its current location. The plaza in which the bookstore now resides also features the Campus Copy center and the Owl Card center, both of which used to be in different locations.
When I began working at the University Press, which is located in the UC, construction of the “new, improved” UC was still underway. It was a daily routine to hear banging, sawing and other construction noises fill our hallway. It seemed at times that it would never end.
That feeling wasní_t unfounded. The construction dragged on, with different parts of the UC opening up at different times. Then Wackadoos came, and finally our staff could get drunk before meetings.
Now, a new building has entered the UC neighborhood — Student Services. The idea is to make studentsí_ lives easier by putting everything in one place.
The problem is, this new building has cut the UC parking lot in half. The lot is also only accessible from one side now. This in itself is not that big an adjustment, as who can put a price on progress?
What’s the problem, then? This “progress” will not be finished for at least another 10 months, if all goes according to the sign out front.
Who decides that constant construction work is worth it? Students are delayed because some road on campus is blocked off on a daily basis. If it isní_t part of the library entrance being blocked off, then ití_s Florida Atlantic Boulevard.
Are we really best served by so many changes? It depends on how soon you graduate. Being annoyed now is worth it if the campus will look better before you leave. But if this is your last semester, it may seem entirely pointless.
But next time you complain about the chaos of constant construction, just think of it this way — at least youí_re here now. Just think — if you had been one of those first 29 students to earn bachelorí_s degrees in 1965, you would see our school as it is today in a whole new light.
