New Addition Coming to Campus

IcSyU

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Nov 27, 2007
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Gift will make new academic auditorium a reality at Iowa State | www.news.iastate.edu

So Iowa State is complaining about budget issues, yet we have the money to throw up new lecture auditoriums at a cost of $10,000,000, partially from private donation, and the rest from,

Additional funding for the building's construction will come from Iowa State reserve funds.

Does anyone else find $10,000,000 outrageous, and additionally, does anyone else have a lot of questions about the endowment and "reserve funds" that are apparently good enough to build new crap with, but not make Iowa State more affordable? Iowa State is constantly putting out budget proposals and telling departments to cut funds, yet the university is throwing up a $10,000,000 building? Doesn't seem hypocritical at all. :confused:
 
Gift will make new academic auditorium a reality at Iowa State | www.news.iastate.edu

So Iowa State is complaining about budget issues, yet we have the money to throw up new lecture auditoriums at a cost of $10,000,000, partially from private donation, and the rest from,



Does anyone else find $10,000,000 outrageous, and additionally, does anyone else have a lot of questions about the endowment and "reserve funds" that are apparently good enough to build new crap with, but not make Iowa State more affordable? Iowa State is constantly putting out budget proposals and telling departments to cut funds, yet the university is throwing up a $10,000,000 building? Doesn't seem hypocritical at all. :confused:
I understand the OP, but also understand that all of the freshman weed out lectures are outgrowing current capacity.
 
The University has to remain competitive as well. ISU has been trying to increase enrollment and can only do so by improving the overall University.

Part of that is facilities. Also, when someone is willing to make a large monetary donation, you don't turn that away, you run with it and "check off the next thing on the list."

We have an aging campus, and I, for one, am pleased to see all the renovations/improvements going on to secure ISU's future as a well-respected academic institution.
 
Gift will make new academic auditorium a reality at Iowa State | www.news.iastate.edu

So Iowa State is complaining about budget issues, yet we have the money to throw up new lecture auditoriums at a cost of $10,000,000, partially from private donation, and the rest from,



Does anyone else find $10,000,000 outrageous, and additionally, does anyone else have a lot of questions about the endowment and "reserve funds" that are apparently good enough to build new crap with, but not make Iowa State more affordable? Iowa State is constantly putting out budget proposals and telling departments to cut funds, yet the university is throwing up a $10,000,000 building? Doesn't seem hypocritical at all. :confused:

Yes, Iowa State should not be in the business of upgrading it's academic facilities. We should've turned down that paltry 5 million dollar pledge.

Seriously, ISU is lacking in modern large lecture halls. We've recently renovated several of the older ones, which is nice, but this is something that would need to be done eventually and they managed to get someone to foot half the bill.
 
The University has to remain competitive as well. ISU has been trying to increase enrollment and can only do so by improving the overall University.

Part of that is facilities. Also, when someone is willing to make a large monetary donation, you don't turn that away, you run with it and "check off the next thing on the list."

We have an aging campus, and I, for one, am pleased to see all the renovations/improvements going on to secure ISU's future as a well-respected academic institution.

Shouldn't the next thing on the list be bowling in the south endzone of the Jack!!!!
 
The main lecture hall in Gilman isn't exactly enticing. I'm glad to see this happen.

EDIT:

Shouldn't the next thing on the list be bowling in the south endzone of the Jack!!!!

Haha, bowling in the endzone would be nice, but we all know that athletics dollars are separate. We need a big donor...
 
Once they spend this money they'll need another tuition hike

I have no problem with the University spending the money to upgrade some of the facilities. A lot were outdated when I went to school there and that has been over 10 years ago since I started. We found a donor to pay for half of it so that is great news. Sure we'd all like to see this money go towards the Bowling in the endzone but lets not forget this is a learning institution first.
 
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Where is this going to be located?
Just east of Hort, slightly southeast of Bessey. Across the street west from Agronomy. BTW, new Hort greenhouses will soon be under construction there. Just a big hole in the ground now where the old ones were.
 
To have alumni in the future to pay for things like upgrading the stadium, you need students.

To get students to graduate and become alumni, they have to take classes.

To take classes, they need space for classes.

This gives space for classes, allowing us to bring in more students which will in a few years become more alumni and a few years after that mean more donations. So in summary, spending money on facilities = good.
 
The other thing that you've gotta keep in mind, according to the article, is $5 mil was donated to the university specifically for the building of an auditorium. Even when I was attending ISU 10 years ago auditorium space was at a premium. I'm surprised they're getting this thing built for only $10 mil.
 
This will be so nice when finished! I'm just mad ill be graduated by then!!

ISU Online Campus Map but i just dont see that much room for this?!?!

I'm not too fond of Coover or Gilman, but the auditorium in Hoover is pretty darn nice. I'm guessing this will somewhat resemble it.
 
Pretty plain and simple - it's the donors money - if we are going to take it we have to follow their rules on how the money is used.
 
Pretty plain and simple - it's the donors money - if we are going to take it we have to follow their rules on how the money is used.

And while it may look bad to have to pull $5 million out of reserve funds, it would be horrible to just turn down a donation like that.
 
Gift will make new academic auditorium a reality at Iowa State | www.news.iastate.edu

So Iowa State is complaining about budget issues, yet we have the money to throw up new lecture auditoriums at a cost of $10,000,000, partially from private donation, and the rest from,



Does anyone else find $10,000,000 outrageous, and additionally, does anyone else have a lot of questions about the endowment and "reserve funds" that are apparently good enough to build new crap with, but not make Iowa State more affordable? Iowa State is constantly putting out budget proposals and telling departments to cut funds, yet the university is throwing up a $10,000,000 building? Doesn't seem hypocritical at all. :confused:

If you're a student, be thankful tuition hasn't gone up more than it has. The state has cut 22% of its funding to ISU recently. President G said to offset that, it would require a 33% increase in tuition to cover that loss, but that hasn't been done. I think a new building with a very generous gift like this is definitely worth the investment.
 
The other thing that you've gotta keep in mind, according to the article, is $5 mil was donated to the university specifically for the building of an auditorium. Even when I was attending ISU 10 years ago auditorium space was at a premium. I'm surprised they're getting this thing built for only $10 mil.

Exactly. You don't miss a chance like this. If you have a 5M donation specifically for a new building, you match the rest, because you don't know if they will have the opportunity again.
 
If you're a student, be thankful tuition hasn't gone up more than it has. The state has cut 22% of its funding to ISU recently. President G said to offset that, it would require a 33% increase in tuition to cover that loss, but that hasn't been done. I think a new building with a very generous gift like this is definitely worth the investment.

Yep, the budget problems are not caused by new construction, they are caused by the reductions in state funding that have gone on over time. Tuition went up significantly ever year I was in school... still ISU is cheaper than so many other state Universities.
 

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