Miami Student

So it's the old bait and switch. When the university architect presented the original plan to Senate, he said it would cost $80m, but John Skillings said he thought it would cost more than $100,000,000. He was completely dismissed by Student Affairs. Well, what do we see? Now they're going to 'save us' money by putting up a $77m building because the old one, it seems, was going to cost $120m. Why are people surprised that there is a problem of trust?

Now it's only $77.7 million that the university should be spending on education and personnel rather than new buildings. Wonderful.

Excellent plan. Kudos to Miami for finding a cost saving alternative.

More evidence that the Roudebush crowd does not care one twit about undergraduate education. It's all about making Miami the social gathering place of the midwest.

I'm pleased that ASG will get fancy, spacious new offices with this $77 million waste......all while the number of faculty shrink and class sizes continue to spiral upward. Great management, Hodge! Miami University = Club Med.

Unfortunately, all universities are building "Club Med" social and recreational facilities. If they don't, they lose the part of the applicant pool (which is substantial) which chooses a college where you can get an education and can enjoy such amenities.

Not doing anything will reduce class sizes, which will be a good thing. Of course, then we'd have to lay off some faculty. ...and the loss of tuition revenue would cut the hours of the recreation center. ...and close some computer labs. ...and reduce the number of purchases the library is able to make... Meanwhile, your could-have-been fellow students are eating sushi, hosting regional seminars with state-of-the-art facilities, and enjoying a jazz music series at the student commons at other universities.

You have to see the big picture which is out there.

Great job to the University and to ASG for moving forward with these plans, even in tough times. It's a hard choice, but it is the right choice.

Top students are increasingly choosing other schools, in large part because social and study space is so lacking at Miami. Nearly every single student center in Ohio is much, much nicer than ours. In fact, the truth is, Miami currently does not have a Student Center. Shriver is an administrative building with a food court.

If we don't build this, students won't choose us. Then, we are left with more in budget deficits like this year because not enough people want to come to Miami.

It's simple -- this center needs to be built, and as soon as possible.

Top students are increasingly choosing other schools, in large part because they get more scholarship money from those schools than Miami. Look at the Board of Trustees minutes for Sept. 40% of all students who were offered a place and didn't come to Miami said it was because of lack of a good financial package from Miami. The number who listed lack of a student center? zero. I know it sucks to have no statistics behind these assestions of 'I want it and therefore give it to me', but really could we get serious?