There are varying views about the East Campus Athletic Village that is underway. Many believe this new facility will reflect the quality, breadth, and competitiveness of our athletic teams on campus, many of which have been deserving of recognition for a long time. In addition, there are teams in varying divisions that have been fast on the rise in national rankings.
However, students who live in the RAHPs or BARH may not be as optimistic about the prospect of ECAV, considering that, due to its construction last semester, some of their residences lost power and water during finals week, with the ice storm to add to the chaos.
Additional negative sentiment may be due to the misconception of where and how money is distributed throughout the Institute. Not everything developed outside of the classroom on campus is draining the quality of education at RPI. Many programs that are developed are largely supported by financial gifts and support from alumni and other organizations given with the intent of it going to a certain program or development on campus, whether it be the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, or ECAV.
For athletes, the benefit of ECAV is obvious. For the rest of us, it may be a little harder to find a silver lining. First, a lot of intramural and club sports will have the opportunity to utilize the facilities at ECAV. Around 70 percent of RPI’s student body participates in intramurals or some other level of sports on campus, all of whom will be able to utilize ECAV to some degree. In addition, the newly freed-up space in the ’87 Gym and Armory will be more accessible to clubs, intramurals, and the general student body.
The Associate Director of Athletics Karen Hansen and the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jim Knowlton want ECAV to benefit everyone, not just athletes. They have asked student leaders on campus what activities and events students would like to see at ECAV and other ways students could benefit from the space and facilities it has to offer.
It is far too easy to instantly point fingers and scrutinize the entire administration as exaggerations and rumors begin to fly. We encourage you to first take into consideration all of the pros and cons you may see in ECAV, and maybe take a tour of the facility —available to students on campus—before you decide it’s just another useless waste of money.
