Manhattanville Should Ax Creative Arts Center Plan

Manhattanville College hopes to improve student life-to "yield additional program space beyond its own walls by freeing currently used spaces around campus for new purposes" with the construction of a 30,580 square-foot Center for the Creative Arts.

However, this proposal, part of the "Honor the Promise, Deliver the Dream" campaign for 2006, completely overlooks troublesome student issues such as the significant lack of space in each of the college's four residence halls. There are many resident students who are upset and outraged by the overcrowding in individual dorm rooms. Somehow, this problem seems to worsen each year, partially due to the increase in out-of-state or international students who have no other choice but to live on campus.

While Manhattanville's campaign hopes to "[...] build on the momentum of [the College's] current success" by adding technologically advanced centers for media, it is doubtful that a multi-million dollar creative arts complex would be the best way to satisfy and accommodate the personal needs of students (e.g. their need for an adequate amount of physical space and comfort while studying in their dorms). A better idea would be for Manhattanville to hold off on the other construction plans and to tend to the needs of its residents: to address the plethora of housing conflicts with the construction of another dormitory somewhere in between Founders and Benzinger Hall.

Those in favor of the Arts and Media Complex propose that it is more necessary to provide the College with "additional program space beyond its own walls by freeing currently used spaces around campus for new purposes." In particular, the supporters of the new campaign argue that the removal of the radio station from Spellman Hall's first floor would result in more space for dorm rooms and ease the crowding conflict.