Editorial: Build a new student center

It's an accepted fact: Norris is no longer enough. Fifteen years of surveys outlined Norris' failings as a student center, and in response the Associated Student Government New Student Center Initiative detailed four alternatives. From cheapest to most expensive, ASG's proposal compares the costs and benefits of renovating Norris, converting the Jacobs Center into a new student center, adding on to Norris, and constructing a new student center near Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on Sheridan Road.

The Daily supports building a new center near Garrett because we think it best encapsulates our needs: A brand-new center would allow us the flexibility to choose the facilities we need, and the central location would make it the campus hub Norris can never be. A 2005 assessment estimated it will cost about $95 million, but the investment is worth it—especially since the least expensive suggestion isn't exactly cheap at $45 million.
Building a new center is a long-term investment that will make for happier students and help NU keep its edge as it markets itself to future students. Norris' lakefront location is one of its main selling points, but its inconvenience for students is its biggest detractor and limits its ability to serve as a bustling core.

The most important aspect of a new student center is students must love it. As much as the University looks ahead to making NU a lakefront campus, Sheridan Road is the central landmark for students, most of whom live closer to the main thoroughfare than the lake. A center near Garrett might not boast a beautiful view of Lake Michigan, but a modern facility with broader offerings will better meet students' needs.

Jacobs is adaptable, but if we're going through the trouble, starting from scratch can produce a new student center that can be a landmark of University President Morton O. Schapiro's tenure here—much as his student union project at Williams College left his mark there.

NU should also support Schapiro's concentration on acting in the present. "You work with what you have," Schapiro told The Daily last week, emphasizing the necessity of improvements to benefit current students.

Schapiro's short-term priorities include adding more "third spaces"—locations for students to meet on campus like The Great Room or Lisa's Cafe that aren't classrooms or dorms.

A South Campus third space may not bring all students together under one roof, but it will fill a current void in satisfying student needs. And rather than becoming irrelevant after a new student center is built, third spaces would still be more natural for certain uses on our polarized campus.

We should not see these localized facilities as glossing over the need for a new student center, but rather as an easy fix as a new center is put into the works.

A student center is as symbolic as it is practical. As NU competes with other top universities for the best incoming classes and tries to offer the best student experience it can, the lack of a modern student center stands out as a blemish on its student life.

Sorry, Norris. It's time to go.