Committee addresses campus appearance

Last Monday, the Campus Appearance Committee released a report evaluating the UConn Storrs campus, recommending further actions to improve its appearance. The Campus Appearance Committee was created by President Susan Herbst and Vice President Barry Feldman to seek feedback about the appearance of the campus, to determine what needs improvement and how to do so. The committee consists of 21 members: four students, eight faculty and nine staff. The report covers topics discussed over five meetings held during the fall semester, and focuses on several different areas of improvement surrounded by the idea that the appearance of the school's campus reflects the quality of the university and the students' pride in it. Therefore, improving the appearance will create a sense of ownership among the university community.

The report outlined what "creating a sense of ownership" would entail with four main points: advice on and supporting the Access Management Plan, recommending priorities for ground maintenance work, developing guidelines for the posting of notices and flyers, and developing an "education/communications" plan to get the university community actively involved.

The Access Management Plan is an ongoing mission by the university to improve service access to portions of campus and reduce traffic. Areas of campus this plan will address include access to the Student Union, Homer Babbidge Library, C.O. Gentry and CUE. The committee supports this plan and recommended a communication campaign to be implemented. The report also stressed the importance of pedestrian safety and the effect the traffic and delivery vehicles have on the look of campus.

The second goal of the committee encompasses a much larger spectrum of campus appearance issues. Several recommendations were made as to what should be made priority for grounds crews, including cost-effective recommendations, and creating "learning landscapes" and "notable destinations." The cost-effective recommendations include eliminating Mobile Building No.1 and Mobile Building No.2, having students design attractive ash urns to eliminate cigarette butts, repair the stairs behind Garrigu's Suites, removal of chain link fencing and better signage along Rt. 195 for a more welcoming entrance to campus. The committee also proposed improvements to the Dairy Bar parking, outdoor seating, signage and creating sidewalks where footpaths have emerged. They also suggested improvements to the landscape surrounding the Fine Arts building and areas around campus where former students, faculty and staff may be honored.

"I really like that they are planning on paying attention to where paths have formed from people walking across the grass on campus when making new sidewalks; people walk there for a reason and putting up a fence won't do much to stop them," said Anna Brennan, an 8th- semester women's studies major.

The committee offered several options as to how to create what they called a learning landscape which actively involves students with the physical landscape of the campus. Suggestions such as offering outdoor community service projects, re-instating Campus Service Day where students participate in clean-up projects, and the creation of outdoor classrooms were all discussed. Also mentioned were offering students design projects such as the ash urns or murals to mask construction sites. The committee also discussed future projects to create more "notable destinations" around campus such as a better entrance, a plan for the use of the former faculty houses on Gilbert Road, a more memorable appearance of the Lodewick Visitor's Center and general improvement of larger grassy areas.

The committee's third goal of creating guidelines for posting flyers and notices was suggested as a means of tidying the look of work areas. It was suggested that posting policies similar to those of the library and school of business be applied. In the fourth goal, the committee advised the development of an education/communications plan to promote a sense of ownership of the campus among our community. Incentives under this plan would include presentations during new student orientation and staff and faculty orientation on UConn's history, traditions and accomplishments, public serve announcements to keep the campus clean, and recognize student organizations and departments who support beautification efforts. Other efforts would include "coming soon" signage with architectural drawings to inform the public what is in the works, and a bi-annual evaluation of the path tour guides take to recognize any unattractive areas.

"The visual appeal of a campus plays a critical role in the prospective student's college decision making process," said Michael Kirk, Senior Media Relations Specialist, University New and Information. UConn's main campus in Storrs is architecturally interesting with state of the art facilities gracing a beautiful environment. Our efforts to continue to improve the campus appearance will be noticed by prospective students and influence their decision to apply to UConn."