Ally Horine | Echo
Plans have been developed and blueprints designed for the LaRita R. Boren Campus Center. The designs were released last spring, and the vision of a new Student Center became a reality.
So where are we now?
According to Ben Sells, vice president for University Advancement, the university has raised $4 million of the $22 million needed. This translates to roughly 25 percent of the necessary funds. The fundraising is about to reach its one-year mark. In comparison, the Euler Science Center cost $41 million to build, and fundraising took approximately five years to complete.
"We're at the place where we should be," said Skip Trudeau, vice president for Student Development. "We're not behind, and we're not ahead."
Currently, Sells and the university are working on a fundraising campaign. In the university's philanthropic case for support, they are asking families and donors to partner with them in giving.
No student tuition will be used to build the Campus Center; all funds will be obtained through gifts and donations. This means future increases in tuition will not be due to the cost of building.
Taylor University's vision for this center is for it to be a place to increase the interactions that are foundational to Taylor's identity. The current union seats approximately 200. The Campus Center will triple this number.
"We have all walked into the Union and not been able to find a place to sit," Sells said. "When your parents or alumni come, it would be nice to give them a place to hang out. The new center will do just that."
The current Student Union was constructed when Taylor had 600 students and 3,000 alumni. Currently, the university has 2,000 students and 20,000 alumni. The space constraints are a major reason for building the Center.
The Campus Center will also update and refresh the chapel interior, which hasn't been renovated since 1975. Along with these updates, an overflow seating area will be added to accommodate 255 additional students, faculty, staff and guests.
Outside of the chapel, the Campus Center will also consolidate student development under one roof. This includes TSO, TWO, Calling and Career and much more. Excluding the chapel seating, all of these spaces can serve over 1,500 people at a given time.
Though it's rumored that construction could start in the fall of 2015, the university will not begin building until all of the money is raised. The Board of Trustees policy states that of the $22 million needed, $11 million, or 50 percent, must be in cash and the other half must be in pledges. Until those numbers are reached, the university will not begin construction.
