By: Becca Griesemer / Staff Writer
University President Mark Rosenberg has grand expectations for the Biscayne Bay Campus within the next 10 years.
During a town hall meeting which took place on April 6, Rosenberg said he expects BBC will grow by 5,000 students, faculty will be hired, and the schools of Hospitality and Tourism Management and Journalism and Mass Communication will double in size.
Yet Rosenberg also made clear in order for the campus to receive improvements on issues such as housing and facilities’ hours of operations, BBC must prove there is enough demand for it.
The discussion of this predicament, along with other topics, led to an open dialogue which lasted half an hour past the meeting’s scheduled end.
Shana Kaplan, comptroller for the BBC’s Student Government Council, posed one of the first questions.
“With the talk of the student body growing here, what are you doing to make sure that growth does happen here? Because there’s talk of not having improvements until the student bodies are here, but what is happening to ensure that that growth is happening?” Kaplan asked.
Rosenberg responded that his vision is to work with philanthropists due to the dwindling budget, but said he will speak of the specifics at a meeting which will take place at BBC on April 14.
Denise Halpin, SGC-BBC vice president, tried to get a more clear answer.
“I’m going to put you a little bit on the spot here,” Halpin began. “A lot of us want to know what’s going to be done now in terms of planning and where the vision is, where it’s going and what is being currently done to improve upon a lot of the aspects of our campus.”
When Halpin asked what the plan for improving housing is, Rosenberg called Rosa Jones, vice president of student affairs, to the microphone.
“When the question is asked: what comes first, the students or the investments? For housing, it has to be a parallel kind of process,” Jones said.
Jones explained it must be ensured the “mortgage” will be paid.
“Now, we have 270 beds at [Bay Vista Housing.] We have 80 percent occupancy at this point, the highest we’ve had in years,” Jones said.
Jones then said last week 620 beds were approved at the Modesto Maidique Campus, because they were able to demonstrate demand; MMC housing is at 100 percent and there is a waiting list for students.
Christin “CiCi” Battle, SGC-BBC president, stood to present the opposite of Jones’ argument.
“The fact we’ve reached 80 percent of folks in the housing building with this current quality is amazing,” Battle said. “Talking to other students, if [BBC] had amazing housing, then do you know how many people would live here just because of the location?”
The campus must be provided with something sustainable to attract students, Battle said.
“I guarantee you, if you all would build housing with 600 beds, we would get them full, but we need classes!” Battle said.
Because of the many voiced-concerns, Rosenberg was pleased after the meeting.
“My expectations were exceeded here because we got excellent questions, the students stuck with it for the full two and half hours, and they dug in. I like that,” Rosenberg said to Student Media after the meeting.
Rosenberg pointed out he had to push students to clarify their exact issues in order to understand them.
“That’s why I asked the international student for two priorities, and that’s why I said what exactly are the numbers for the Rec center,” Rosenberg said. “I mean let’s be as specific as possible. That’s the only way we can generate results.”
Jones was not deterred either.
“The questions were right on as some of the issues that are most important to us on this campus,” Jones said. “Everybody here wants to make the campus a better campus, address the issues, and I’m sure soon you’re going to see some progress.”
Halpin said she would strongly encourage them to
be more meetings.
“The president not only answered our questions, but there was a great turn out of student and faculty questions towards the president and other administration,” Halpin said.
Lorna Veraldi, journalism professor, attended the meeting and watched the same “catch 22” she has throughout her 22 years at BBC.
“The tone that developed during the question and answer, which I thought was a good one, was this sort of tension that always is created when people say, ‘Well we need this to be treated like a serious campus,’” Veraldi said.
Veraldi’s worry is that the administration thinks a town hall meeting with “half a dozen” students and taking surveys are representative of the entire student body, when the students she deals with everyday are less concerned with what is outside of the classroom.
“It’s more why they can’t get the classes they need, why the shuttle doesn’t quite work with the schedule, why it’s so hard to just go grab a sandwich when you’re rushing here from work and nothing is open,” Veraldi said.
In a hypothetical world, the school’s issues would be handled differently, Veraldi said.
“If I were queen of the university, which I would never ever be, I would say, ‘Let’s stop trying to worry so much about how can we make this into something it will never be, and how can we make it into something that works best for most students?’”
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