Dear Editor,
What is a Student Center? I wouldn't expect the average Ball State student to know the answer to that question. The reason why? After 14 years of promises, Ball State students do not have a Student Center. Bracken Library is a place where students go and study -- but it is not a center for students. It is a library. The Art and Journalism Building is a place where students gather to eat, buy books or sip on a cup of coffee from Starbucks. However, that building is an academic building, not a Student Center. As for the big brown building located on the corner of McKinley and University avenues, it doesn't fulfill its purposes as a Student Center. I am in that building more than most, and I can tell you that if there is anyone hanging around in one of the lounges (which is rare), they are usually students who live in Elliott Hall or go to the Indiana Academy. Students do use the bowling alley and billiards, but usually not of their own free will. How many students actually go to the bowling alley just for fun? Not many. Students usually go because an organization sponsors it.
How would we pay for a new Student Center? Donations from businesses, alumni and students would cover a great majority of the cost. Part of the $1,000 increase that our university assessed from this year's freshmen should go toward a new Student Center. We do not have to increase tuition to build a new Student Center.
It is hard for students to want a new Student Center when they don't even know what one is. It should offer things that make the students want to go and spend free time at the Student Center: an extensive 24-hour computer lab, a movie theater, a recreation center, lounges with TVs, rooms to reserve and places to hold huge events. Even if you don't agree, you must agree with one thing: On a campus that has more than 18,000 students, the Student Center is missing a key element. Students.
Benjamin A. Tietz
Vice President
Student Government Association
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