A meeting held Thursday at the African American Cultural Center opened dialogue about the development of a parking garage on land currently occupied by two student centers.
The AACC and Women’s Center stand on ground slated for a multi-use parking garage development that will also provide a new home for the Barnes and Noble booksellers which currently occupies space in the Student Union.
Mark Kraner, director of contracted auxiliary services, said the parking garage has been planned for the current site because of the Master Plan’s goal of creating a pedestrian-friendly corridor from Lod Cook Alumni Center to the Union.
“There is no great value to the buildings themselves,” Kraner said. “We could provide [the organizations] with the spaces they really need.”
Kraner said the University also wants to enhance the natural environment of the area and will be working around oak trees.
Director of Parking, Traffic and Transportation Gary Graham said the architect on the plan has suggested the University will save money with a revised plan having a shorter but wider complex. The amount saved was not specified by the architect. The garage will provide 750 parking spots for campus residents, faculty and visitors.
Kraner said the University reconsidered its revised plan after speaking again with architects for the new development.
In 2005, the same parking development’s plans would have forced the relocation of the AACC and Women’s Center. After receiving a large number of complaints from the University community, the plans changed to only demolishing Highland Grill, leaving the centers untouched.
The Thursday meeting came after students, faculty, staff and community members that comprise the “Dialogue Teams” met to find some resolution in what will become of the AACC and Women’s Center buildings.
The meeting was packed with students, faculty and staff who hold interest in the two centers. At least 100 people gathered in the small meeting area with standing room only available.
The four students on the Dialogue Team – Elise Gilbert, Westley Bayas, Morgan Moreau and Jessica Ketchum Weber – hosted the meeting to gauge how students felt about the three-option package the University has offered to help resolve the issue.
Those options include leaving the buildings as they are and build the development around them; move the centers to the student union space currently occupied by Barnes and Noble; or become integrated with the new development in brand new facilities.
Political science and history senior Derrick Petit shared his thoughts about the project during the meeting.
“I believe that all of these decisions are being rushed along,” the U Court associate justice said.
According to committee members, no official decision will be made in the upcoming Dialogue Team meeting on Aug. 9. Groundbreaking for the development is not yet set, according to Katrice Albert, vice provost of equity, diversity and community outreach.
Petit also questioned the University’s plan, saying he thought the project’s location should be considered further.
“The garage should be put on an existing parking lot where they have tremendous space,” Petit said. “There is no reason why that garage is so permanent.”
Petit was also concerned because he thought the committee formed to resolve the issue was a reactionary measure by the University when its intentions were publicized.
Westley Bayas, AACC advocate and Dialogue Team member, said he is still waiting to see the plans before making any criticisms of the new offer.
“I don’t know what the plans are,” Bayas said. “I really want to see what they are going to give us. There is a big space, a grey [area], where they can give us some crap or they can give us something we can really think about.”
The suggested plans will be presented at the committee’s next meeting on Aug. 9.
Preliminary discussions have talked about doubling the centers’ spaces if incorporated into the parking development, taking the current 1,200 and 1,600 square foot spaces for the AACC and Women’s Center respectively to a combined 5,000 square feet with a large shared meeting space.
Increased space would have benefits particularly for the AACC because the National Association of Black Cultural Centers will not accredit centers under a certain square footage. Accreditation would allow the center to receive more money from grants.
According to Albert, the AACC currently receives $28,000 per year from the University and the Women’s Center receives $5,000 per year. She said the centers have not received more or less money since the Master Plan was conceived.
Albert said while the AACC has developed a national reputation with model programming, the center does not have the same resources as other schools.
“We lag behind our peers with higher national reputations when it comes to the number of professional staff,” she said. “We also lag behind our peers with national reputation with regard to facilities.”
Albert said the two centers are currently on the University’s deferred maintenance list, along with other older buildings that are in need of repair.
Some students took a more pragmatic stance on the new development. One speaker said if the centers’ conditions could be improved, they have an obligation to future students to embrace it. Speakers frequently referred to the idea that bricks do not make the establishment – it is instead the intent and efforts.
“The students are willing to work for the administration when the administration is willing to work in good faith,” Bayas said.
The biggest concerns regarding any new plan include green space and autonomy. These two concerns effectively killed the Union proposal where there would be no specific land for the centers or way for them to operate outside of business hours.
The University is also contractually obligated to provide Barnes and Noble space while the new development is being built, meaning the centers would be moved elsewhere during the estimated 16 months of construction. According to Kraner, the new space will provide Barnes and Noble with nearly twice their current space – from 27,000 square feet in the Union to 50,000 square feet in the new development.
Kraner said money from Barnes and Noble’s sales goes towards funding the Union and keeping student fees low.
SG president Cassie Alsfeld and vice president Josh King attended meeting. Alsfeld said she was unaware of the issue until she received a large number e-mails from concerned students. When she spoke with Albert, communication with students was the primary concern, she said.
Alsfeld said she was optimistic about the University’s handling of the issue. However, she mentioned that transparency has also been a problem with the latest Union fee proposal, which was rejected by students but brought forward to the Board of Supervisors.
“We are all for taking [student] considerations into the [Board of Supervisors],” Alsfeld said. “I think that open dialog is needed. I think a lot of our students don’t even know what’s happening. Some of our biggest issues have been happening over the summer,” she said.
Jessica Ketchum Weber, committee member and president of the women and gender studies student group, said she thought the meeting was a step in the right direction but was only the beginning.
“The fact is that this isn’t a decision that a committee can make,” Weber said. “This isn’t a decision that even the 150 people here can make. This is a decision that needs to have the entire student body and Baton Rouge community [involved].”
Weber said the community has a vested interest in the future of the Women’s Center because it performs a number of services and community outreach programs.
The four student members of the Dialogue Team will be meeting to compile a list of concerns they have been given by students, including those discussed on Thursday. The students have set up an e-mail address – [email protected] – in an effort to reach students whose voices were not heard at the meeting.
The student representatives will then develop an official statement on Aug. 6, which will be carried to the next Dialogue Team meeting on Aug. 9. The meeting will take place in an undisclosed location.
—Contact Mark Macmurdo at [email protected]