2008 Woodie Awards
Engineering Building Reveals Class Tensions On Campus
Katie Chase
Issue date: 3/10/05 Section: Opinion
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I admit it - when I first saw the sign saying "Don't gentrify Green Street!" hanging from the fourth floor of Tyler, I didn't have a clue what "gentrify" meant.
After conferring with my superiorly intelligent roommate, I figured out that the sign was in reference to the engineering building being built on Green Street. While this is a somewhat complicated issue, I feel that Smith is completely justified in this project and should not be criticized for it. Professor Frances Cooper Volkmann said it best in the October 21 issue of the Sophian: "Smith does own the property and they have every right to develop it."
Any kind of expansion or advancement has a price, including the new engineering building. It is unfortunate that this building will displace residents from affordable housing, but at the same time, this building is a huge advancement for women in the sciences. Smith has taken appropriate actions to assist the displaced residents in finding new housing, including giving $3 million to help develop affordable housing.
Though my initial reaction to seeing the sign was that someone was just complaining about something else that Smith has done wrong, I realized that maybe there is more to it than that.
This physical sign is just one of many more subtle figurative signs of tension around campus - not tension over race or gender, but rather over socioeconomic class.
Smith's history is full of elitist undertones, as it is a private college, and these are lurking just below the surface of today's campus. We've all heard the rumors about Smith's history: Green Street used to be where students on scholarships were housed; Haven/Wesley has a reputation of being upper-class because early decision chose to live there in the past; that tiny room on the fourth floor used to belong to the live-in maid.
Instead of avoiding the fact that Smith has traditionally been a college of rich, upper-class, straight, white, Christian women, we need to take this issue head-on and address the tensions that it is causing today.
After conferring with my superiorly intelligent roommate, I figured out that the sign was in reference to the engineering building being built on Green Street. While this is a somewhat complicated issue, I feel that Smith is completely justified in this project and should not be criticized for it. Professor Frances Cooper Volkmann said it best in the October 21 issue of the Sophian: "Smith does own the property and they have every right to develop it."
Any kind of expansion or advancement has a price, including the new engineering building. It is unfortunate that this building will displace residents from affordable housing, but at the same time, this building is a huge advancement for women in the sciences. Smith has taken appropriate actions to assist the displaced residents in finding new housing, including giving $3 million to help develop affordable housing.
Though my initial reaction to seeing the sign was that someone was just complaining about something else that Smith has done wrong, I realized that maybe there is more to it than that.
This physical sign is just one of many more subtle figurative signs of tension around campus - not tension over race or gender, but rather over socioeconomic class.
Smith's history is full of elitist undertones, as it is a private college, and these are lurking just below the surface of today's campus. We've all heard the rumors about Smith's history: Green Street used to be where students on scholarships were housed; Haven/Wesley has a reputation of being upper-class because early decision chose to live there in the past; that tiny room on the fourth floor used to belong to the live-in maid.
Instead of avoiding the fact that Smith has traditionally been a college of rich, upper-class, straight, white, Christian women, we need to take this issue head-on and address the tensions that it is causing today.