Recently I met with Gil Valadez, Grand Marshal; Bruce Elliot Jr., Chair, Minority Student Organizations Leaders Council; and Arikpo Onda, Chair, Student Senate Committee on Student Life, to review the student petition and concerns regarding the plans to move the Dean of Students Office, Office of Minority Student Affairs, and the Office of the First-Year Experience to Academy Hall.
The move of these offices is being made within a broader context of space utilization. It is my intent to create an integrated corridor, comprised of the Rensselaer Union, Mueller Center, the Alumni Sports and Recreation Center, Health Services, the Playhouse, as well as the dining area in Sage. All of these facilities naturally flow together.
As we look to the future, the whole south side of the campus is being built out, anchored by the Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies building and the Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center. The activities of these new buildings support and are related to the Institute-wide highest priority initiatives in Biotechnology and Information Technology, and, as such, represent key elements in the future of Rensselaer. These facilities will naturally generate considerably more activity on that side of campus.
Academy Hall will be part of this activity, as well as a plaza and walkway connecting to the Electronic Media and Performing Arts center, Voorhees Computing Center, and the Folsom Library. In point of fact, Academy Hall is intricately connected to a new intellectual, cultural, and educational center and to the future of the campus.
In order to avoid a disruption in student services, we will delay moving the Dean of Students Office, the Office of Minority Student Affairs, and the Office of the First-Year Experience to Academy Hall until May 2002. This will give us the opportunity to consider, in a thoughtful manner, how best to serve students. We are very sensitive to the issue of disabled access, and we will ensure that it is addressed in a dignified manner.
I thank the students for their concern and for the thoughtful way they made their concerns known. I look forward to continuing to improve the quality of student life at Rensselaer.
