On September 9, Longwood's Board of Visitors, the governing body of the university, met in the Stallard Board Room in Lancaster Hall for their first meeting of the academic year. The meeting had several special moments where decisions were made regarding the immediate future of the university. A focal point of the early part of the meeting was the discussion of the new North Campus project to take place near Lancer Park.
Within the next couple of years, Cunningham Residence Hall will be torn down, and in its place, a new student center will be constructed. The current student union building, Lankford Hall, will become an extension to the Janet D. Greenwood Library. A walkway is planned above the space between Lankford and Greenwood to allow easier access between the buildings for students.
As far as the new addition to Lancer Park is concerned, the architecture will reflect the character of Longwood in its brick, white column, and red roof style. There will be approximately 200,000 square feet of residence hall space with two- and four-suite bedrooms. There will be lounges at each end of every hall with 46 beds on each floor. The two residence buildings themselves will have five floors each.
There will also be a common area at the east end of the complex and a green area at the center about the size of a football field, somewhat reminiscent of The Lawn at the University of Virginia. The common area has a red roof, similar to that of the parking garage near Dorrill Dining Hall. The "warm, inviting beacon" will utilize natural light for the facility. President Patrick Finnegan said the project "puts us in ballpark of showing prospective students great residence halls, not ones built in the 1950s."
Another point of discussion was the use of $450,000 for new scoreboards at all of the university's athletic facilities. The current scoreboards use light bulbs to display information, and came about in 1991 with Longwood's Pepsi contract. They use more energy and man power than more modern scoreboards, and Athletic Director Troy Austin said the board at Buddy Bolding Stadium, the baseball field, is a year or two away from shutting down completely.
The controversy surrounding the scoreboard project was how it is going to be paid for. At a cost of $110 a student, one board member said that it was a good idea to have new scoreboards but raised serious concerns about passing the cost onto students. Austin replied with his hope to use donations and game guarantees to purchase the new scoreboards. After a discussion between board members, university officials, and student representatives at the meeting, the motion passed unanimously with board members assuring the cost would not be simply tacked on to students' bills.
Other topics of discussion included the transitional housing process, which Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Tim Pierson said, "went very smoothly," also mentioning that a lot of freshman students currently are comfortable with their somewhat cramped living situation. The end of the open meeting was the discussion of the New Lancer Days program, which was viewed as a success. Finnegan said, "[New Lancer Days] is a way to incorporate the new students into the Longwood family. This is a key reason why our retention rates are on the rise."
