Learn from the mistakes of Frist Campus Center

The announced plans for a reopened Campus Club are encouraging. As it stands, the club will provide several social venues that are in short supply elsewhere on campus. The University community will especially benefit from added dining facilities, since the club will allow groups to host banquets in an elegant space close to McCosh and Robertson Halls.

There is, though, cause for concern: the University's less-than-stellar record when it comes to designing and planning student spaces. The critique of Frist Campus Center put forward last October by The Daily Princetonian columnist and history Professor Anthony Grafton is convincing. Frist's postindustrial character has made it, in his word, an "aesthetic catastrophe." Campus' planning committee has not shown that it has thoroughly studied far better, more intimate student centers at other universities such as the University of Chicago, Penn and Johns Hopkins. If the committee has done the necessary research, let it put forward evidence of such. If it has not, it must do so before renovations begin in full.

Even without careful examination, there are a few immediately-observable deficiencies in the preliminary design. The reopened club could add key features that Princeton's campus sorely needs. The first would be a larger area for table games than called for in the plan, with such games as air hockey and foosball in addition to pool. The Mazo Family Game Room in Frist is nice but too small, and most universities have more extensive game rooms. Second, a large television or projector with a viewing area would help. The large TV viewing area in Frist is usually quite busy, so there is reason to think that a similar venue in Campus would be put to steady use.

The preliminary plans for the club call for a number of study spaces. Since the University is averse to creating 24-hour spaces in its libraries, it should consider creating such areas in Campus. Since entry to Campus will be controlled by prox, there would be no need to hire additional staff to guard the club at night. Any sensitive areas in Campus could be locked after hours, and study areas could remain unlocked in the same way that the computer cluster in Edwards is open around the clock.

The preliminary plans for Campus illustrate the University's laudable goal of creating alternative social venues to enhance the quality of student life. With this goal in mind, the University should consider these suggested improvements and bolster its research of other student spaces across the country.