Taylor unveils plans for new campus center

By Hannah Haney & Claire Hadley | Echo

When Nussbaum was completed in the '60s, university president Milo Rediger noted that, now that science was taken care of, it was time for a campus center.

Almost 50 years later, his dream for a new campus center is being realized all over again.

The new gathering place for students will be 50,000 square feet, almost three times the size of the current Student Union. The center will be built around Rediger Chapel and will expand across the Chapel parking lot and the tennis courts.

Plans are in place to relocate the tennis courts and campus police headquarters, though a new spot has not been decided at this point.

Rediger Chapel will be refreshed as a result of the new building. The seats will be replaced, and the stage, among other features, will be enhanced. An overflow area with seating for 255 extra students is also part of the plan.

"It could be used to show movies, smaller theatrical productions . . . smaller concerts and overflow for chapel," said Skip Trudeau, Dean of Students. "We will have the ability to televise it live."

The first floor of the campus center will include the Campus Store, the Calling and Career Office, the Office of Intercultural Programs and the Jumping Bean. In addition, the first floor will include a dining area that will seat 400.

"We are looking at having six options for the new dining space, so it's gonna be more of a food court perspective, and that doesn't mean we are going to have six outside vendors coming in, but we are also not precluding outside vendors being a part of this," Trudeau said.

The university is open to revisiting Taylor's student meal plan, given that the dining area in the campus center will be about as big as the area in the DC. This would maintain the sense of community at meals and abolish the stigma that the Grille is just for upperclassmen, according to Trudeau.

The second floor will hold the Counseling Center, the Center for Student Development, the Spencer Centre for Global Engagement, local and international programs and TSO, as well as additional seating. In total, there will be space for more than 1,200 students, which is a significant increase from the current Student Union, or the "dome," as students call it.

"I think the heart of the Taylor experience is the interaction that happens between faculty and students, students and students, (and) staff and students," said Ben Sells, vice president for university advancement. "It has to happen someplace. We just don't have enough room. So I think (the campus center is) going to make it possible for those kind of interactions that really define the experience."

In a statement released yesterday from the Office of the President to Taylor faculty and staff, it was stated that, "the new campus center significantly enhances the experiences and programs related to discipleship, chapel, collaboration, servant leadership, intercultural effectiveness, calling and career, emotional and physical well-being and alumni and parents."

The new building will have many of the sustainability features of Breuninger and Euler, though it will not be LEED certified. Twenty-three wells will exist under the building, complete with a system that will monitor whether it is more efficient to draw water from the lake or the wells.

The new campus center will cost a projected $20-22 million. Fundraising officially began this semester and $1.3 million has already been pledged. The fundraising campaign has been named "Intentionally, Taylor."

The campus center is going to be named after LaRita R. Boren, one of the first women to serve on the Taylor Board of Trustees and an integral part of Taylor for 34 years.

Trudeau described Boren as "the epitome of the gift of hospitality."

In the resolution to name the new campus center, the Board of Trustees stated that Boren had a loving servant's heart, which was evident in her roles with her family and at Taylor. She excelled at hospitality and making everyone feel welcome in Upland.

At this point, there is no set date for ground to break.

"Board policy is that we have to have half of any project in hand, and the other half pledged before we can break ground. That means we have to have $10 million in cash, and the other $10 million pledged," Trudeau said.

According to the release from the Office of the President, "Our hope, Lord willing, is that sometime during the 2014-2015 academic year we can begin construction, which would take 12 to 18 months to complete."

While there are no plans for what will happen to the current Student Union, it will still serve some purpose on campus.

"It's not going away. It's just going to be repurposed," Trudeau said.

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