Many say the Village isn't what it used to be. A handful of students want to change that.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, teams of management students work together on an innovative project to revitalize the Village. The initiative is led by assistant professor of management Susan Muntean and is a combination of a previous entrepreneurship class and a project called Planting Innovation in Muncie.
In this class, students work in focused teams on various aspects of the project. Some students work on economic development, some concentrate on the finance aspects and some focus on administrative tasks.
All parts of the project involve a lot of hands-on work: phone call after phone call, arranging interviews with Village business owners and meeting with them, and even cleaning up the Village on the weekends.
"Right now, we're trying to get interviews with business owners and basically see why the Village sucks," Kyle Speckman, a junior entrepreneurship major, said.
One goal of the project is to allow students to use meal cards at restaurants in the Village. Indiana University allows card usage at Scotty's Brewhouse, and implementing the same practice here is a focus of the project. However, the ultimate goal is to make the Village into a more economically thriving environment and attraction for students and Muncie residents alike, but it won't be finished by the time this semester ends.
"The end goal is sustainability," Muntean said. We're gathering a body of data to pass on to students groups or business owners."
Muntean said the project is going well, but not all of it has been smooth sailing. Students have reported some general disinterest from some business owners and a complete refusal to talk from others.
"Literally, people have said 'it's not my problem,'" Muntean said. "Business owners [have been] once bitten, twice shy - you might say ... But a lot of them want to see change."
But not everyone is skeptical of the initiative. Wally Higgins, owner of The Cup, said he thinks the project is a good idea.
"I thought it was great," Higgins said. "It would be great to get everyone in the Village working together."
Whitney Lewis, owner of Be Here Now, said he thinks the project might be a good idea - if they had contacted him.
"They did not contact us," Lewis said. "Pretty typical of Ball State."
Lewis, who creates fliers and has advertisements on his building for local businesses, said he doesn't see why they didn't contact him.
"We're already doing what they're doing," Lewis said.
Despite some objections, Muntean said the project is a win-win for everyone. Muntean said she believes the key to the project's success lies with the project's involvement and voice of students.
"I don't think it will change until we get more students interested," she said.
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