NE president reports changes
by Brian Bland, reporter

    Topics ranging from new construction to budget conflicts were covered during last week’s Phat Chat with Dr. Larry Darlage, NE Campus president.

   Darlage met with students to inform them of upcoming events and changes to the campus.

   “You’ve probably noticed the new building that’s being built; does anyone know what it is?” he asked.

   Under construction on the northeast corner of the campus, the warehouse, Darlage said, is more than just a storage facility, as it will also contain office space for the maintenance staff.

   In addition, in the coming years, the warehouse will be used as temporary housing for classes and faculty offices during the renovation of existing buildings.

   “Most of our buildings are over 30 years old. Some of them are beginning to really show wear and tear,” he said.

   Along with renovation, other changes are in the works.

   Darlage hopes to remake the Student Center into a “one-stop-shop for students,” putting the bookstore, registration, business and testing offices all in one building.

   “We’re even thinking about not replacing the cafeteria,” he said.

   Darlage explained that when the campus was first built about 30 years ago, the cafeteria was the only nearby place to eat, and as such most of the students and faculty ate there.

   This is not the case anymore.

   With the development of the area and the installation of nearby fast-food restaurants, the cafeteria has been increasingly under utilized.

   Fewer customers meant less profit, which forced the cafeteria to raise prices, which in turn drove away more of the students and faculty.

   This downward turn is what Darlage referred to as a “vicious spiral.”

   “We’re going to see if we can overcome that by putting in some kind of catering firm or somebody like that,” he said.

   Darlage told students not to expect immediate results.

   “This overall renovation project will take many years as you might guess,” he said.

   Darlage also was asked about the policy on using the ATB for student activities.

   Darlage explained that most of the classes on campus take place in the northeast area of the campus, with most of those classes in the ATB.

   School officials are wary of student activities in that area because of past problems.

   A few years ago groups of students often had activities in ATB that were not school related, and they behaved in a manner that warranted calling in the police. These actions led the campus to curtail all student activities, Darlage said.

   “Since then, we have brought college day back to ATB. We tried to do that in the Student Center, but the universities and colleges complained because no one came,” he said.

   The administration plans to really watch the activities carefully, but expect they will start allowing select student activities to take place near the ATB again, Darlage said.

   Students later brought up the issue of malfunctioning vending machines.

   For example, one machine near the gym will not accept dollar bills. A vending machine in the OFO will not accept any money.

   Darlage said he would contact business services, the office charged with overseeing vending machines.

   On the topic of campus security, Darlage mentioned the installation of emergency call boxes.

   “One of the things we’ve been working on for over a year now is call boxes. We’re going to have call boxes placed around the parking lots on the outside, and then we’ll have call boxes in the inside.” he said.

   Other topics covered were the City of Hurst’s withdrawal of funding for the Fall Festival and Fourth of July celebrations, the revival of recycling on campus, the upcoming ’70s festival and a Tech Fair in April.