^ NEWS
Plaza honors past and present leaders
BY WENDY BYERLY
Last semester the Student Gov
ernment Association (SGA) decided
they wanted to make a change in the
school that would be physically vis
ible to all students, visitors, faculty
and staff. In response to this request.
President Tom Bertrand gave SGA
the responsibility of fundraising and
helping plan a new leadership plaza
to be located between the cafeteria
and the Moore Science building.
Brian Hemel, President of the
SGA, and John Minor, Vice-President
of the SGA, wrote a letter addressing
this issue towards the end of the Fall
1999 semester. In this letter they
wrote, “As a symbol of leadership,
the plaza would inspire the drive, cre
ativity and ambition of the strong stu
dent leaders within the college’s stu
dent body.”
On January 28 the SGA held
a charrette to see what type of designs
the architects, faculty and staff could
come up with. Scott Melrose & As
sociates is the architect firm that has
been hired to work on the long-term
plans for the campus.
Many ideas were thrown out
to Melrose and his associate, Jon
Calabria. Once a list was made
Melrose addressed the pros and cons
of each idea. The most reasonable
ideas to the students, faculty and staff
present: an amphitheater with mov
able tables and chairs, a bouldering
wall against one of the buildings
sides, fountains, walkways that look
more natural and will allow grass to •
grow, a small meeting area for pos
sible outdoor meetings of classes and
plants native to this area to be planted
in the plaza.
Annan O’Brien, a member of
SGA, told Melrose, “I would like to
see a more organic and natural ap
proach to the plaza.”
Everyone came to the consen
sus that no concrete is wanted in the
plaza; the more natural look that
O’Brien asked for was preferred by
all in attendance.
As Melrose went through the list
of ideas, he noticed that water fea
tures were mentioned several times,
“The cost for a natural looking stream
through the plaza will run anywhere
from $30,000-50,000. A more rea
sonable natural water feature would
be a water fountain that emerged pos
sibly from a boulder, or some type of
concrete pool.” This type of fountain
would allow the water to trickle over
the boulder and reseep into the
ground where a water catching sys
tem would capture the water to be
reused.
Also discussed at the meeting
were the plants to be added to the
plaza. There was a request for the use
of flowers and trees native to this area
expressed by members of the Native
Garden Club.
It was brought to everyone’s at
tention that the short lived specimen
of Maple trees that are located along
the hill next to the Moore Science
building will soon die out. Two op
tions were given to alleviate this prob
lem. The trees could be removed and
have older Oaks or Maples planted
in their place, or be replaced as each
tree dies.
The amphitheater brought up at
the meeting has been drawn as a more
traditional concrete
structure and also as a
structure with boulders
for seats to look more
natural and for students
others to climb on. With
the boulder design, it
will be much cheaper
and eliminate need for
gating.
The social opportu
nities were addressed with sugges
tions for a snack bar, like the Java
Cart, to be open during hours that the
cafeteria is not. “The plans for this
plaza are to create social opportuni
ties for the campus. There is no place
for the students to gather as a whole,”
commented Melrose.
Also a pull down video
screen to be possibly
mounted on the porch of
the cafeteria or the Moore
Science building.
A place for student
sculptures and art was
suggested, where the art
could be rotated and not
permanent. There will be an informa
tion kiosk where club and organiza
tions from campus can post their up
coming activities and calendars of
events.
For the safety conscience stu
dents, lighting will be provided in the
plaza hidden in trees or as lamp posts.
Once all of the ideas were dis
cussed amongst the group, the two
architects drew up four sketches of
what the plaza could possibly look
like. These plans were posted in the
cafeteria for a week with comment
sheets below for student input. The
plans were then sent back to the ar
chitects with the comments, where
they made up a few more final de
signs taking in all of the input from
students.
These will be posted for more
comments and input. After this step,
the final decisions will be made.
It is the SGA’s responsibility to
come up with fundraising strategies.
One idea by Pres. Bertrand at the pro
posal meeting was to ask former SGA
presidents for support, thus the tem
porary title of Leadership Plaza. The
plaza will have a formal name some
time in the future.The Planning Com
mittee of Brevard College will be very
involved in this project from begin
ning to end, helping to make some
of the determining suggestions. The
project will also be included in their
write-ups for the SACS evaluation in
the upcoming year.
Hemel said, “These plans are
great. I just hope we get support from
all over the campus, faculty, staff and
students alike.”
I would like to see a more
organic and natural approach to
the plaza.
- Annan O’Brien
I just hope we get support from
all over the campus,
- Brian Hemel
Nude Olympics... Continued from Page 1
Administrators vowed Thurs
day that the ban would be en
forced.
“I couldn’t be more em
phatic,” Assistant Dean of Student
Life Marianne Waterbury said. “We
are absolutely going to enforce a
ban on the Nude Olympics.”
Assistant Dean of Under
graduate Students Thomas Dunne
agreed.
“It is my understanding that
the University decided last year
that they were willing to suspend a
large group of students,” he said.
Sophomore class officers
have recently scrambled unsuc
cessfully to plan an alternative
event. Thursday morning, class
president Ben Shopsin sent out a
class-wide e-mail apologizing for
not scheduling a replacement ac
tivity. He said he had suggested
numerous activities, including a
bonfire, a tropical party, a bathing
suit party, an underwear party, an
outdoor dance party, a food fight
and a snowball fight.
“The administration didn’t
give many reasons for rejecting
our proposals,” he said. “They
wanted an event that would hap
pen indoors with full clothing. The
whole spirit of the event was some
thing that happened outside and,
obviously, with minimal clothing,
and that wasn’t what they wanted
to happen.”
ABSOLUTE FINAL DEADLINE
For Diploma Information!!!
Friday, February 25
^ Check with your adviser and make certain vour namp i.s one
the list of graduates.
Make sure your name is spelled correctly.
. name is not on the list and if you intend to graduate
m May 2000 come to the Office of the Registrar immediatley to
complete the Graduation Application and have your credits and ehgi-
Dihty tor graduation reviewed by the Registrar.
If XQur name is not spelled correctly on the list, let the Reg
istrar know at once. You may email the correction to-
akersh@brevard.edu.