Past, Present, Future Perfect

On Thursday, Ken and I had arranged to interview Dave Taylor, the first President of the Board of Trustees, someone who was a party to all the decisions made during Stockton's early days, from those regarding where the college would be located, what its name should be, who should be its first President, who should be its second, etc. After having met Joan Bjork a couple of days earlier, I was looking forward to this meeting.

What we had planned was a rather pleasant luncheon in the President’s office, with Dave Taylor, the President, and ourselves. Ken and I would then take Mr. Taylor into the President’s Conference room and point a strong electric light at him and begin the interrogation. Well, I jest, of course. Ken had developed some serious questions about how things came to be and who did what, while I, drawing on my many years as a successful softball pitcher (more home runs were hit against me than any other pitcher never to have played the game), came up with some questions that would provide a relaxed tone – things like what are your best memories of Stockton, your proudest achievements, greatest disappointments, etc.? We were going to end the visit with a guided tour around the Campus Center, so that Mr. Taylor would go away having been reminded of the past, and getting a sense, in some way, of where his work had led.

Since Dave Taylor had received our questions in advance, it could not have been the fear of a Reality-TV-style ambush that accounts for his not showing up! Nor, I am sure, was it a concern that the President’s repast would not be up to snuff – Chartwells certainly always puts out a good spread for Herman! No, it was merely a scheduling mix-up, one requiring us to reschedule for another day.

No good meal should go to waste, is my motto, and apparently Herman’s also, so we decided to discuss the progress of the book over lunch, along with Claudine Keenan, who we thought could substitute for Dave Taylor admirably, and who will also be contributing to the final section of the book that covers the 2020 Vision. It was indeed a pleasant lunch! Ken and I talked about the website, the blog, our meeting with Joan Bjork, Ken’s Camden escapades, and many other things, and we all decided, once dessert and coffee settled in, that we should take the tour of the construction site.

This was a good decision. One of the things that assembling material for a book tends to do is focus most of one’s attention on the creation of the college and its early years. This is almost inevitable and is appropriate, since we need to find all the documents and other material that may not have been archived or may just be plain lost. This is a time-consuming project, but it shouldn’t obscure the fact that Stockton’s story is not just about the past, it is about the present, and an imagined future also. Given this, our plan to tour this building, which in some ways represents a new direction for the college, would help situate what we are doing in that larger narrative.

So we located some hard hats, Ken reached for his 433 mega pixel camera (I exaggerate, but it’s good), and we plodded down into the tombs beneath F-wing, where representatives from the architecture and construction firms greeted us. Immediately after we had exited the tombs, we entered into what will soon become the eating area in the new building. The three things that one noted were the amount of space that was going to be available for dining, the high ceilings, and the light. This is going to be a dramatic space, even including a curved stairway down into the heart of the room that would make even a Hollywood mogul feel proud!

We then made our way upstairs to the Theatre and it was only then that one began to see the simple but beautiful logic of this building. Well, my use of the singular there is rather problematic. This is in many ways four buildings, joined together around a mall-like concourse. As such, it combines all the functionality comprised in each separate building (though function never overwhelms style and design in any of the parts), with all the welcoming dramatic, but tasteful vistas one might see in the best-designed malls. That might be considered a slight, I suppose, since we academics view the commercial negatively. But if you think about it, the manner in which architects have designed spaces to inspire people to action – i.e., to consume – makes one fully aware of the power of such buildings, rivaling the religious Cathedrals in some ways in their ability to redirect the mind to a desired objective.

So we were now in the theatre. I have seen drawings of how this will look and am already impressed with the building. As a consequence, though, seeing it in the construction stage was nice, but it wasn’t such a revelation to me. While it will be a wonderful space, I was not as bowled over by seeing the guts of it, as I was for those sections of the Center that I previously knew nothing about.

We then moved to the other side of the house, the new conference center. This really will be a useful addition to the college. A space that will be able to sit at least 1000 guests very comfortably, along with a large conference room for Board of Trustees meetings – Dave Taylor would have been impressed with that!

We then found ourselves in the center walkway as we made our way to the other side of the building. Right now this part of the building reminds me of the conversation in the movie, "My Dinner with Andre," during which Andre Gregory describes to Wally Shawn (better known for his role in the "Princess Bride") a building in Findhorn, Scotland, where the roof seems to be floating above the rest of the building apparently defying the laws of gravity. I am sure when all the wood paneling is added the roof will have a little more solidity to it; nonetheless, with all the light flooding in, and the fireplace at one end, this will be a wonderful greeting area for anyone arriving at the college for the first time.

Carrying on over to the other wing of the building, one sees all the offices for Admissions, Financial Aid, and the like. There are some nice meeting spaces and the rooms seem generally well organized. On the other side of this wing, one finds the Bookstore, also on the ground floor. This is spacious and should match most college bookstores for convenience and pleasing appearance.

Through the other side of the bookstore one sees an excellent congregating space for students that will house a donut shop, ping-pong and pool tables, among other things. Again, the light and the space are noteworthy, as is the other fireplace around which our students will gather in the winter.

Heading upstairs one finds more offices associated with the one-stop approach to Student Affairs, things like advising, as well as considerable space laid out for student clubs. Here too is the new space devoted to WLFR and SSTV, which I quickly laid claim to, setting up the ARHU banner, before anyone else could attempt to grab it.

That’s about it. The Campus Center will be an impressive building. While it is going to be very busy inside, so much so that one wonders what traffic will remain on the old spine of A through N, it will nonetheless feel spacious, with light and exquisite vistas throughout. I am, I have to confess, far more positive about the “Old Spine” architecturally than many others, but I too believe that when this new edifice is completed it will have added significantly to the college and to the pleasure of studying and working here, making our college altogether a more appealing place to attend and visit.

So, in one day, and in one entry, we were able to deal in the past, present, and future perfect tenses.