Old Keller not worth it
By AMBER HUGHSON
Guest Writer

Frankly, I am disturbed by the decisions that Albion College has been making recently. While reading the recent Pleiad article about the Old Keller (“Renovating Old Kellar,” Sept. 26, 2008), I was unnerved to discover the budget for the project. The college is willing to spend $300,000 on a 20 percent increase in seating and nine energy-wasting televisions.

We are at a pivotal point in American history as we are deciding whether to react to climate change or ride it out and as we face a potential recession or depression. Should liberal arts colleges be spending money on miniature television sets to watch in the little time it takes to eat a meal?

The precise number of $300,000 struck me as well. In 2006, when our Christmas break was extended to six weeks instead of four, the reasoning was that we would save $300,000 in energy costs in those two weeks. I find it thoroughly disappointing that the college is willing to sacrifice two weeks of our education for the same amount of money that it costs to build an indulgent, energy-sucking cafe. 

We all know that the budget works in mysterious ways and that money is allotted for certain investments. My question is this: why doesn’t the college petition that unnamed person who controls the budgets to invest in our intercultural affairs department, which has recently collapsed into virtual non-existence? Or, why doesn’t the college invest $300,000 into making the college more energy efficient, purchasing additional housing for upperclassmen, healthy alternative food options, or retaining and hiring additional faculty? 

To put this number into a global perspective, $300,000 could support a small school in Uganda for 10 years. As Americans, as educated adults and as world citizens, now is a time to be thinking critically about decisions that can add to our experiences in a valuable way; watching television and having a fourth local, specialized coffee location should not be our college’s priority.