Serendipitous Musings:Pavilion success rides on student support

By Amanda Melchor     3/27/08 7:00pm

As construction enters its final phases, the near-completion of the Brochstein Pavilion presses students to consider the building's purpose and to take action to help ensure that the newest architectural addition to campus serves that purpose by serving students. The main goal of the pavilion lies in enhancing Rice's sense of student vibrancy, which can only be accomplished if students voluntarily and continually use it.Student vibrancy, as described in the Vision for the Second Century, is defined as a sense of a university community that students acquire by using space

and facilities - like the new pavilion - outside of their residential colleges. By having a space for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty to interact, the pavilion can allow the Rice community to interact beyond the residential colleges and the classroom.

This goal for university unity has reasonable relevance. In many instances, Rice could be categorized as a large machine mainly defined by its smaller parts: the residential colleges. It appears that most students prefer to attend individual college events instead of campus-wide events like varsity athletics and Shepherd School of Music productions. The university could stand to be a little more united on a campus-wide scale, and the pavilion is one way of achieving this goal.

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The newness of the pavilion will wear off, but its success rests on its continual use by students and the Rice community. Support for the pavilion depends on how much it will offer to the student body, which, thankfully, is something that can still be strongly influenced by student demands.

For example, if students so wish, we can turn the pavilion into a nice complement for Coffeehouse and the Rice Memorial Center. Nothing makes for a more divided community than two similar establishments and facilities vying for the same students and business. But if students properly express their interest in the new pavilion, the additional coffee bar on campus could easily harmonize with its predecessor. The new venue could help alleviate the long lines Coffeehouse constantly has between classes. An additional means of acquiring coffee will allow students to obtain their coffee and still make it to class on time.

While encouraging Coffeehouse to develop new desserts and drinks to keep student interest, the new bar could have longer hours and be available to students long after Coffeehouse serves its last cup at midnight. If 24-hour service is not possible because of monetary or staffing reasons, the new venue should be open until at least 2 or 3 a.m. Not only would the coffee bar in the pavilion help provide late-night students with their drink and snack fix, but it would also ensure that Coffeehouse does not stretch its dedicated but busy staff. Without longer hours, the coffee bar in the pavilion would only be a weak, watered-down version of a strong student business and Rice tradition.

If the new coffee venue cannot be open 24 hours, the pavilion could offer well-stocked vending machines. In the bowels of the RMC there are currently three machines that provide drinks, one machine that provides typical vending foodstuffs like candy and popcorn and one machine that offers frozen food and desserts. These machines and their snacks remain virtually unknown to the majority of students. Along with visibility, these vending machines lack another important feature: The ability to use tetra points. If students could use their tetra points to purchase food, the machines - and the pavilion they would be placed in - would garner more use and attention. The heavy demand for late-night food has been recognized by the Student Association in the past year, and the pavilion's central location makes it an ideal place to satisfy the need.

With its reputed plasma screens, comfy couches and chairs and brand-spanking new coffee bar, the Brochstein Pavilion is shaping up to be a place where students can study as well as recharge from their busy lives. If complementary to student interest and student-run organizations, the pavilion retains all the potential to be a great way of launching vibrancy and creating a greater sense of university unity.

Amanda Melchor is a Hanszen College junior and opinion editor.

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