Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 3/1/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Brad Schembari // STAR A bulldozer from Ghilloti Construction levels the ground for an equipment staging area. Construction of the concert hall foundation gets under way as soon as the rainy season ends.

ic Center (GMC) site was broken on Feb. 24 with the rumbling of heavy machinery, and preliminary work on the controversial project finally began. Flagmen stood at the ready in the chilly morning light and the green winter grass gave way to the brown earth below, as construction crews created a staging area for the long-awaited capital project.

It has been called "tangled mess," a "white elephant," and even "visionary," depending on which account one chooses to read. No matter what it's called though, the GMC is one important and irrevocable step closer to being built. The initial $7.6 million contract was signed on Jan. 30, and before long-once the weather stabilizes-where there is now a grassy bowl and a berm the foundation of the new performance venue will finally rest.

"We're very excited that something is finally going on out there," Chief Financial Officer Larry Schlereth said about the activity on the site. "I know it has been a long time in coming."

The final cost of the project will be in the neighborhood of $65 million dollars. The scope of the project and its various costs has gone from a $22 million privately-funded music hall to the current version which includes academic and dining facilities.

Construction costs went up an additional $3 million recently because of an explosion of construction in China, and increased costs in fuel and materials. Construction in the Gulf Coast region in the wake of hurricane Katrina has been a contributing factor as well.

On Feb. 23, Schlereth and Provost Eduardo Ochoa gave presentations on the final construction and financial details to members of the President's Budgetary Advisory Committee (PBAC) and to the Academic Senate.

"One of the ongoing concerns about the GMC project itself is a comment that comes up many, many times…is that there is no transparency and the GMC project is not being discussed on campus," Schlereth said in the PBAC warm-up.

He then devoted an entire section of the presentation to documenting "GMC Presentations and Approvals" in order to assuage faculty members who feel as if they have not been given a voice in the process.

The documentation of committee and senate meetings went back to April 2000, prior to the May 2001 $11 million acquisition of the 31 acres upon which lots L through O sit and the GMC will soon occupy.

The presentation was cause for discussion at PBAC, but at the Senate meeting Schlereth ran into resistance to the idea that the faculty had been included in the process.

The air of Senate was permeated by a sense of resignation for faculty members who feel as if the numbers don't add up and that the administration has steamrolled the project through without getting feedback from them.

After Schlereth reiterated his assertion that the appropriate committees had been advised of GMC plans for approval, Senate Chair-elect Elaine McDonald disputed the claim.

"A report is not equal to approval," she said, and went on to voice the concerns of long-time faculty that the GMC "marks a shift in curricular priorities" for SSU.

She added that many faculty members think the shift has been done without the consultation of the proper decision-making bodies.

Jeff Langely, chair of the music department, doesn't see what's happening as a shift at all. He feels empathy for his fellow faculty members working in the dismal conditions of some departments, but thinks the academic portion of the GMC does not represent a potentially larger music program, only adequate space for the existing one.

"Academically, this project is well within reasonable guidelines," he said in a subsequent interview. "The big thing is the performance hall, but that will be fully funded by private donations."

Langely added that even if he were not in favor of the project, he really has no choice in the matter but to make the best of a situation he feels-as do many proponents of the GMC-will benefit the entire campus as well as the surrounding community.

Music professor Dr. Lynne Morrow attended the meeting in a show of solidarity with a department that has gone through a very difficult period because of the various perceptions of the GMC.

"I just want to remind my colleagues that the GMC is a classroom where instruction of performing arts occurs," she said. "It's our laboratory, where groups and individuals come to learn to be professionals."

Still, there are many faculty members who have been at SSU for a long time, who don't like the way the situation has been handled by the administration.

Senator Robert Coleman was unable to keep his frustration in check and walked out of the meeting after an emotional moment on the floor.

Coleman addressed the issue of "quality of academic experience" by citing his own experience, which he described as "cramped and overheated" in the classrooms of the English department. He also gave voice to one of the main issues that skeptical faculty has with the entire GMC issue.

"I've been here for 33 years. Since the very beginning. [I'm] tired of being told [I] don't understand the operation. It offends me," he said before leaving the building.

Regardless of the friction that exists between faculty and administration, the GMC will move forward unabated, although the Senate has a resolution in the works to address the issue of "consultation."

"The consultation policy that the Senate will consider has language in it that requires a recommendation from the PBAC or other faculty committees before decisions are made," McDonald said.

Documents provided for the presentation indicate that nearly $41 million or 63 percent of the cost will come from donors. The CSU has provided more than $19 million-much of that coming from Prop 55 funds-in order to facilitate mandated academic growth.

The remaining $4.7 million or seven percent of the funding will come from SSU conferences, events and catering via a 30-year State Revenue Bond. Initial operating costs are estimated at $620,000 per year, which is down from a prior estimate of $1.5 million.

The final designs are being developed, and the last hurdle to get past is the Sep. 15 deadline for the final contract, but Schlereth is confident that sometime in 2008, the "vision" of President Armiñana will become a reality.

"The only thing that could stop this project at this point would be a major world catastrophe," Schlereth concluded.

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