Section 12 – The 2010s Irvin Hall’s Centennial: 1925-2025Miami University, Oxford, Ohio Home Previous Section Next Section
![MILLION ARMSTRONG PHASE II CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN JANUARY
Nick Meyerson
Phase II of the Armstrong Student Center construction will begin in January. The center is expanding to a larger east wing, encompassing Culler Hall, and will include updated facilities student space.
The new addition, dubbed Armstrong Student Center East Wing, is expected to be fully operational in fall 2017, ASC director Katie Wilson said.
The new building will be home to various amenities, including a coffee bar, meeting rooms, more student organization rooms, a recreational facility called the "Red Zone" and a student senate chamber. In total, the project will cost million.
This tab has some people uneasy. Senior Roberta Fritz-Klaus said donations should be spent elsewhere - namely, on academic buildings.
"When alums donate to their alma mater, they do so in order to continue the improvement of undergraduate education, not for students to go shopping or play video games," Fritz-Klaus said.
Wilson, however, said the student center's second phase isn't a new development.
"This has always been the plan," Wilson said. "It is not an expansion; it's the completion of the project."
Fritz-Klaus said academic halls in desperate need of repair and renovation should be a higher priority. She said she believes the appropriated funds for this project could be better spent on student merit-based scholarships or be used to renovate academic buildings like Pearson, Hughes, Bachelor and Irvin.
"Instead of attracting affluent students with flashy retail and gaming stops, shouldn't Miami attract hard-working individuals and teach us to work for our desires?" Fritz-Klaus said.
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