Political science and economics majors are voicing concerns over the proposed move of the Policy Sciences and Economics Library (PSEL), following an e-mail sent out Tuesday night by Vice Provost William Perry.
“Being a political science major and being isolated from the main campus, I should have the right to have a library that is sufficient enough for me to use that will satisfy the amount of work that my professors require of me,” said Brad Robertson, a junior political science major. “This little room that is proposed is not only offensive but insulting to my intelligence.”
The Council on Built Environment (CBE) proposed a site in the Presidential Conference Center (PCC) that is 38 percent smaller then the existing PSEL.
“I should be offered the same amount of materials and space that a top 10 university offers their political science and economic majors,” Robertson said. “I should not be put aside for the satisfaction of a couple of faculty members.”
Liberal Arts Senator Brian Harrison and Marcella Colbert, a junior political science major, proposed an alternate plan to the CBE’s proposal. The e-mail sent out by Perry was intended to garner feedback from students across campus; however, students are upset over the fact that the e-mail went out during finals.
“Having talked to a large number of Aggies in the wake of the e-mail sent late on Tuesday night before ‘dead days,’ finals and winter break, the timing of the e-mail and the message it carried disturbed each and every one of them,” said Bo Stewart, a senior philosophy major. “Why send an e-mail at this point in time in the semester about an issue that students have taken a stand for all semester long?”
Another major point which students are concerned with is the content of the e-mail.
“Having reviewed the e-mail, I steadfastly must say that the proposals are not presented clearly or completely,” Stewart said. “Mysteriously, some facts necessary to arrive at a solid conclusion on the issue are missing, while other information presented is antiquated.”
Stewart and others are saying the e-mail unfairly presented the issue in favor of the CBE’s proposal and was inaccurate in describing the student proposal.
“What we received was a lengthy, one-sided e-mail that did not adequately express the student proposal and left out very important information such as the fact that the student senate passed a resolution unanimously endorsing our plan, the Student Body President (Jack) Hildebrand signed a letter endorsing our plan and the fact that faculty, administrators and staff in political science and economics are opposed to this move,” Colbert said.
Perry stated that there was no ulterior motive behind the timing of the e-mail and that he felt that the content was accurate and fair.
“I wanted to make sure Brian and Marcella had enough time to put their proposal together,” Perry said. “Brian agreed with the due date in the e-mail, and I sent the e-mail out accordingly. It takes time to develop proposals. If they had been able to make their proposal to CBE earlier we would have sent the email out earlier and moved everything else up.”
Perry said that the content of the e-mail was simply numbers.
“In my opinion, the CBE proposal more closely meets the needs of all parties than does the student proposal,” Perry said. “However it is not I, but President Gates who will make a decision based on all available information, including the responses the CBE receives to the email.”
Perry said that although both proposals fall short of the estimated need of the Bush school, the CBE proposal accommodates the needs of more individuals.
“Moving the PSEL to the PCC, would provide 4,579 square feet, 655 square feet less than the need,” Perry said. “In contrast, keeping the PSEL in its current location and moving graduate-student offices to the PCC would provide only 2,824 square feet, which falls short of the need by 2,410 square feet.”Stewart said the student proposal meets the needs of all parties.
“The student proposal easily accommodates graduate students and all current and future faculty based on current consumption,” Stewart said.