After years of anticipation, School of Communication students returned from winter break expecting a brand new building to call home. Instead, the state of the McKinley Building has disappointed and provided a false sense of hope.
Eyebrows were initially raised during a Nov. 13 town hall when SOC Associate Dean Ed Beimfohr announced the McKinley Building would be “academically operational” by Jan. 13. He said he was confident the move-in schedule would happen on time and the remaining construction work in January would not disturb students’ concentration.
However, the current state of the building fails to meet that description. While classes are taking place in McKinley, the construction is by no means silent and the building is a long way from becoming the home SOC deserves. Many students find the building difficult to navigate and unpleasant for studying.
In retrospect, the problems facing the McKinley Building today could have been anticipated. Beimfohr said that while he thought the building would be fit for classes, he admitted that “we’re kind of threading the needle on this.”
Yet, the University continued to raise students’ expectations throughout winter break. On Jan. 6, AU tweeted “@AU_SOC moved into it’s new McKinley home today & will be ready when students return next week! #hellomckinley” and followed with an article on the SOC’s website. The top picture in that article showed a fully constructed McKinley Building, scaffolding-free and aesthetically pleasing. However, this picture only shows the finished end of the building, leading students to believe SOC’s new home was fully complete.
While we are happy the McKinley Building is open, The Eagle is concerned with how the University handled this process. By using the opening of the McKinley Building to generate marketing hype, AU has put publicity before the welfare of the student body. The transition from the Mary Graydon Center to the McKinley Building seemed rushed, leaving offices and open spaces in both buildings unprepared for students and classes.
We hope the McKinley Building will allow SOC to expand and provide more courses, classroom space and give SOC students a true home on campus. By the end of the semester, we expect this construction project to be complete. But we hope the administration will keep the student body’s interest in mind and truthfully inform the AU community of construction projects, including admitting when a project is not complete. -E
