Monday, December 5, 2011

11 Holiday Gifts I'd Like to Give UMBC

I spent part of a weekend day at the Columbia Mall, shopping for holiday gifts and being driven to the edge of insanity.  When I wasn't actively dodging crowds or responding to store greeters with polite evasions, I was distracting myself with a thought experiment: If I could, what would I give UMBC this holiday season?  For all that we have in our community, there are still plenty of things we could use.  Some ideas, in no particular order:
  1. Warm, sunny days and temperate nights for the next 10 Homecoming bonfires and Quadmania carnivals.
  2. At least a dozen new informal gathering spaces like the Student Organizations Space on The Commons' 2nd floor: flexible enough for spontaneity, comfortable enough to lounge around for hours.
  3. For all of the students struggling to make ends meet, my colleagues who have gone years without a salary increase, and potential UMBC donors worried about their savings: an end to this interminable period of economic gloom.
  4. A second ballroom twice the size of the original, with natural light and plenty of room backstage.  And a couple of smaller event venues, roughly the size of the Skylight Room, but with solid floors, and furniture that can moved or stored away.
  5. Chipotle.  24/7.
  6. If we had a Chipotle on campus, we'd also have to have a napping zone with unlimited supplies of clean blankets and pillows. It would make SGA President Catie Collins very happy.
  7. Forty more classrooms of various sizes, each with the latest multimedia technology and cozy, comfortable, movable seats.  Maybe with more room for classes at peak hours, we could do away with 8:00 a.m. classes forever?
  8. Historical markers telling the amazing stories behind familiar features of campus life.  How did the free hour come into being, and who had the idea for a campus pond?  What role did students play in transforming the Student Organizations Space from a storage room into a social hub?  What stately brick building once stood in the shadow of the mighty oak behind Parking Lot 17? (OK, there already is a marker for that one--but I'll bet you haven't noticed it).
  9. A dedicated physical space for free expression and open debate, maybe a little like Towson's Freedom Square.
  10. A state-of-the-art recreational facility open to all members of the campus community, with enough racquetball, squash, basketball and volleyball courts to accommodate every intramural team, sports club and pick-up game anyone wanted to play, 24/7. Plus laser tag. And did I mention the Jamba Juice in the lobby?
  11. Dr. Hrabowski has done a wonderful job of spreading the word about UMBC in recent weeks. To assist in that effort, I'd like to give the UMBC community its first Rhodes Scholarship, MacArthur Foundation Genius Award and Nobel Prize.
Some of these ideas are a little far-out and whimsical. For others, progress might be just a little coalition-building and a Prove It! submission away.  So how about you: What's on your holiday gift list for UMBC?

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Posted by David Hoffman at 8:39 PM
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2 comments:

  1. This is a great list. Here are my personal submissions:

    1. An Alumni Class Gift program, starting with something small, that would help past, present, and future students understand the roots of the campus, but also the roots of the community.

    2. Business Organizations with positive presences on campus, which continue to promote the creation of great things through the collaboration of students, faculty, staff and other members of the UMBC Community.

    3. Alumni who look to give back to UMBC, both financially and by reputation. Great leaders of business, science, politics and the arts who look for ways to tie their names back to UMBC.

    4. (Shameless Plug) - A beer, or non alcoholic beverage, for a job well done to members of the UMBC community, using a little web service called BeerGivr.com. It is a great way to Send a Beer.

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  2. Lindsey LoeperDec 6, 2011 01:28 PM

    David, what a great list! I'm sure you're not surprised that I especially like #8. There may be a way to initiate a project like this online first using mapping/commenting programs like Flickr, but this would only be useful for the external built environment and would leave out all the wonderful internal spaces (like the Student Org Space). If any student groups would like to work on this, I would certainly be happy to help!

    My holiday gift for campus would be UV protection and screening on the Kuhn Library Gallery windows so that we could open the blinds during events and enjoy the beautiful view that is hiding. Chipolte sounds good to though!

    Lindsey Loeper
    Archivist, Albin O. Kuhn Library

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