Ground breaking on the Innovista project is the latest in a series of new developments on our constantly “under construction” campus. Every week, like magic, a new building or project is being announced. All of this change and expansion is certainly exciting to watch (and perhaps even more exciting for its advertising potential), but we think it’s important that students are allowed the opportunity to look behind the curtain and understand how these tricks are being performed.
As students, we rarely get anything more than rumors about what’s coming next until construction is about to begin, and even then we can’t find answers to important questions such as “Why do business students get a new building while Sumwalt is covered in signs that say ‘do not drink from water fountains’?” or “Are undergrads paying part of the construction costs for the new law school?”
We’re sure that the University has good reasons for making the decisions that it does, but students don’t know what they are. And that’s the problem, especially when we as a student body may be the ones footing the bill with our tuition. If the funding of a particular project isn’t coming directly from our collective wallets, we’d like to have a say in the decisions that will be effecting our years and school and the value of our degree in the years after. If the news of the financial crisis at SC State have taught us anything, it’s that students and alumni alike have a vested interest in a school’s financial planning. We don’t expect every single student to delve into the depths of the University’s balance sheets or sit in on each of the meetings of the various committees that dictate funding allotments, but there has to be some way to be more transparent than our current system.
This is our Carolina and (possibly) our money. Even if it’s not feasible to increase the amount of control the average student has over major projects, it would at least be nice if we knew when, where, why and how the university chooses to enact some changes (like a new football ticketing system every year) over others (*cough* parking *cough*).