By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: September 11, 2013
The new humanities study space was filled with delight but not necessarily students at its grand opening last Thursday.
While science students lay claim to a glass-walled space in A building, the new humanities study room is tucked away on the upper level of D Building. Its location in D3070 may not exactly be prime, but it serves as a testament to UFV’s perpetual space crunch.
Susan Fisher, associate dean of students for the Faculty of Arts, briefly introduced the space at the opening. She thanked campus planning’s Craig Toews for his work in helping to make the dream of a humanities study room a reality.
“It just seems much bigger than we imagined it could be,” Fisher said with a smile.
It must be noted, however, that space can’t be created out of nowhere. On a campus where every closet is eyed for possible renovation into usable space, the humanities room was created by dividing a faculty break room in two and granting half to the students.
“It was a creative idea that you brought forward,” Toews replied. “With the space crunch, it’s good to have some fresh, out-of-the-box ideas.”
Vice president academic and provost Eric Davis also gave a brief welcome to the space.
“I was all set to wax professorial about the origin of the humanities and the connection with the public space,” he grinned, “but I’m in a room with people who know more than I do.”
The room was filled to the brim with instructors and other staff members, many hailing from the history department and a few from English. In the crowded space, the lack of students became awkwardly obvious, although a few wandered in and out over the course of the opening.
“Public space is always essential for the practice of the humanities – a place where people can meet and argue, and dispute, and harangue each other,” Davis continued. “The 15th century Florentines found that place in town squares; your place is here. Use this room well: make it a room filled with arguments.”
