The Pacers won! Woo hoo! Now just three more to go before the Bulls can win one. The Blackhawks might actually do that. And the Cubs, well, are still the Cubs. And the Rockies are probably going to embarrass them this week. So it goes. I've got a bit of a pet project to talk about here.As I've talked about here, I am an alumnus of Wabash College, and I don't think I could have enjoyed it more. I spent my day off in Crawfordsville and visited with a few people at Wabash. I didn't get to see the one guy I actually went to visit, because he doesn't come in on Fridays any more. I guess you can do that when you're retiring. And, just because I like upsetting, I stopped by maybe my favorite building on campus, the Armory. A bit of history. Built in 1917, this was the long time athletics building on campus. It has housed a number of other functions through its history, but that's been the main function through its life. It was the entrance to Chadwick, housed the weight room and other athletic offices. But, that was well before I was there, so enough about that. The Armory in my day was a student center. It housed two computer labs, the only 24 hour ones on campus. The Bachelor office* was moved here the same time I joined the paper. The radio station was moved here halfway through my time at 'Bash. It also housed a nice lounge and a game room I spent quite a lot of time in. I spent more time in this building than any other building, except Morris Hall, where I lived for three years. *Technically, this was the Board of Publications office. But, the Bachelor was pretty easily the most important of these in my view, and definitely used it the most. I always thought BOP should have stood for "Bachelor and Other Publications." It seems, though not everybody shares my love for this building. In the time it has been replaced by the Allen center, it seems it has struggled to find a purpose. I won't talk bad about the Allen Center. I'm sure the upgrade was badly needed, and it is a hell of a building. The Allen Center is probably the best athletics center I've been in, certainly for a school the size as Wabash. As the picture would suggest, the College poured an awful lot of money into this building, including a new entrance into Chadwick, new offices for the campus doctors, a new big weight room, racquetball courts, Knowling Fieldhouse, new pool and wrestling rooms. It is a great building that I've also spent quite a bit of time in. So, yes, it is a great center and a significant upgrade. No fault with that. Oh, we keep something else important here, too. You may notice the sign that has a few important numbers on it. Namely "47" and "0." I just needed to work that in. This is about the Armory. As mentioned before, this building is trying to find new life as a student center. I loved this building, spending many hours on the radio, working on the paper, and playing pool in the game room, and sometimes watching things on the big screen in the game room. I very often was the only one there, though. I don't know why the building didn't find more love amongst Wallies, but seems to be the unfortunate truth. Even more unfortunate is how the building has been neglected. If it was ever going to find any footing, letting it fall to the state it currently. Above is a picture of the room as a whole. For a better example, look at this picture on the left. This is where the TV used to be. The TV is now gone, and the furniture, well, you can clearly see the issues there. Some torn couches are not the only issues. While I did watch the TV and take some naps in this room when I worked in the Allen Center over the summer, I usually spent my time playing pool here. It's hard to beat a free pool table, and over that summer especially I got to be pretty decent at pool. I've lost all that now, of course. Regardless, it seems future generations of Wabash Men won't have that opportunity. Here are all the pool balls off one of the tables. The other table had only a lonely 6 ball in one of the pockets. And there were no cue balls or sticks to be found anywhere. That makes it awfully rough to play any pool. Pool is probably the most popular game, but by no means the only game. As you can see, there are also foosball and air hockey tables. Again, these are also not in working condition. The air hockey table has both goals broken, puck missing, maybe the mallets as well, I can't remember and the picture isn't clear. And, well, take a look at the picture. The missing equipment is actually the least of our problems. There won't be much air in air hockey without any power, and it'll be awfully tough to get any power with no plug. The foosball tables actually seem to be in good shape, a rarity. But, the balls are missing. You will also note from the picture here that these are pay tables, which the other games are not. I took a closer picture, but in the interest of brevity, I'll just tell you. There are quarters sitting in the ball return. Out of curiosity, I put in a couple of those quarters, and the coin mechanism did work, I could feel it catch and the table rumbled as if it were going to spit out a ball. Predictably, no ball was actually forthcoming. So, to conclude this section, there are no games to be played in the game room. It's hard to foster student community with games when there are no games. Somebody has also put up a bizarre drawing on one of the walls. I'm not really sure what to make of it, and it definitely wasn't there when I was there. I don't have much comment other than to post it. The lounge wasn't in much better shape. The ping-pong table, missing it's net, has been moved here. The carpet is in awful shape. There also used to be many of the smaller, round, red tables, along with tables to play cards on. You know, they had spots for poker chips and stuff. Who knows what happened to all those tables. And who knows how long that umbrella has been sitting there. Judging by the floor, it looks like its been awhile since it's been cleaned. The good news is the computer labs (especially the smaller one I always preferred) are in good order, and I presume the radio station and Bachelor office are as well. Those doors were locked, and I unfortunately don't have those keys any more. Okay, so we see the problem. How do we fix it? For starters, there could at least be the appearance of giving a damn. We would probably also need to know what exactly happened to all the missing equipment. Stolen? Broken? If stolen, I would have a hard time imagining a Wally stealing those. Not saying Wabash men are necessarily paragons of morality, but I don't think many college kids in general are that keen in stealing table game equipment. Kids coming into the armory to break/steal stuff? That seems more likely. How do we stop that? The Armory was the only 24/7 building on campus. The Library might be as well now, but that building keeps somewhat of a staff. I suppose you could put a staff in the Armory, but that seems like a waste. My proposal while I was at Wabash was to put an electronic lock on the front and side door to the building that would open to any Wabash ID. That doesn't seem like it would be that expensive (two locks), the worst part would be reprogramming ID cards, but it seems like that could be done without actually issuing new cards. I could be wrong, but that's how it seems to me.
There seems to be a deeper problem, though. The Armory has never really been embraced by students the way it ought to be. The computer labs are used fairly often, so those can stay put. I would assuming the Writing Center on the first floor is used as well as it's always been. But these upstairs rooms have been underutilized despite best efforts by the school. It seems it's time for a change in direction. I had a whole section written here about opening an overnight diner in the Armory, which I don't think is a terrible idea. But I don't think Bon Appetite would allow an outside dining option on campus, even open during hours they are not. Also had an idea for a campus bar, but that's not going to happen soon thanks to some unfortunate incidents lately involving alcohol and underage drinkers. None of which are the school's fault, but don't ask Fox News about that. Still, there needs to be something more than just (maintained) games to draw students back into the Armory. Maybe more campus events should be held in the Armory just to make the building feel more "routine." I wouldn't mind seeing the wall knocked out between the lounge and game room to give one big space. But from there, maybe there needs to be some pool tournaments held. Bring in some smaller music acts. I would love to see Acoustic Cafe (assuming that's still around) moved to an expanded Armory lounge/game room. I would love to see some local bands play the Armory. And if the event organizers make sure to bring in some food and drink for these concerts, that would be great. Who wouldn't want to hang out with their buds, play some pool or something, listen to some tunes, etc. Maybe when the wall is knocked out, they could also put in a sound system so people could plug in their iPod when there isn't a band. I guess what I'm asking for is a bar without the drinks. As it stands now, people stay in the houses or dorms to do their drinking and socializing. Which there is certainly a place for that. But it would be great if there were a central place on campus for all students to come together. At the very least, could some alum at least get another set of pool balls and cues back? Comments are closed.
|
Archives
March 2022
|