Call for West Center accountability
I wrote the following op-ed column for this week’s Johnsonian, which comes out later this evening. You read it here first.
Call for West Center accountability
By Will Atkinson
In early 2005, DeVere Construction placed a winning bid to build Winthrop’s new state-of-the-art athletic facility. The press release at the time said the $18.5 million bid was 10 percent higher than the supposed costs. Student fees, and yes that means your tuition, are shouldering most of the project’s cost. The highest bid Winthrop received was $21.4 million.
Jump forward two years: the West Center has been marred by mismanagement, inclement weather and now, tragedy. The project’s price tag has been raised to $25 million and if you think the center will open this fall (as the Winthrop Web site claims), I’ve got a nice bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.
If you were a freshman in 2005, you would have been excited about using pristine athletic facilities for the latter half of your undergraduate career. That is, if you took Winthrop officials at face value.
“We have to take the lowest bid as long as it is responsive and responsible,” Walter Hardin, facilities management associate vice president, said in a 2005 Johnsonian interview.
The keywords here are “responsive” and “responsible.” It’s up to the Occupational Health and Safety Commission to decide whether the recent death was due to irresponsibility. Whatever Hardin meant by “responsive” - Princeton’s Wordnet says it means, “reacting to suggestions, influences, appeals or effort” – it’d be hard to make the case that any of those adjectives can ascribe the project, given present circumstances.
After DeVere’s initial bid, the obligatory postcards were sent to thousands of prospective students hyping the new construction. There were press releases, news stories and general fanfare.
Construction began at an anemic rate. The hours of Peabody, the old gym, were cut and there has been nary an exercise equipment upgrade in four years. Peabody’s pool, while funded in part by student fees, offers approximately four hours to students each day. And that’s if you want to swim between 7 and 9 a.m. or on your lunch break. It’s closed on Saturday if you’re wondering.
Let’s contemplate our sports editor’s thoughts: “The administration needs to stop fantasizing about the glorious Lois Rhame West Center and actually solve the problems that students are facing today.”
These were our former sports editor’s words, 33 months ago. If you’re wondering what buildings could possibly be built in slightly over two years, consider the Empire State Building and the Pentagon.
Unfortunately, it takes an appalling accident such as last week’s to point a critical spotlight on this project once again. It’s time for some accountability, hustle and maintenance of current facilities.
