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U. affirms College Town
Vice president addresses students on revitalization of Livingston
By Stephanie Guzowski/Correspondent
Published: 2/8/06Article

Media Credit: Onnie Koski/Targum Senior Staff Photographer
The current plans for College Town on Livingston campus would take up underused land that is presently part of the Ecological Preserve, above.

After seeing the immense amount of attention paid to the College Avenue Greening project, Adam Tamzoke, the external vice president of the Livingston College Governing Association, wonders about the status of proposals to revitalize the Livingston campus.

The plans include the proposal for College Town, a complex slated to occupy a 44-acre tract of University land adjacent to Livingston, according to the project's Web site.Karen Kavanagh, the executive vice president of administrative affairs, was on hand at Monday's meeting to address students' concerns about College Town's status. The University, she said, has issued preliminary reports regarding College Town, and has hired a real estate advisor to conduct a study on the project's financial feasibility. "Initial recommendations are supposed to come in at the end of February and at that point we will discuss those findings with you," Kavanagh said to those in attendance at the meeting.

Kavanagh maintained that the University is not neglecting the project. Rather, she assured, "we have been actively pursuing this."Tamzoke, a Livingston College sophomore, reports, "A lot of Livingston students feel the attention has been shifted away from [Livingston].

"For example, at LCGA meetings last semester, concerned students discussed a lack of efforts to update the numerous facilities that they regarded as outdated, such as the student center, dining hall and some residence halls. To students who shared Tamzoke's concern about the low degree of promotion College Town has received compared with the publicity surrounding the College Avenue Greening project, Kavanagh explained the latter depends heavily upon private donations."We need donor support there," Kavanagh said, adding, "Publicity equals donor participation.""[At Livingston], we are going to look at developers to help us.

We're going to look at leasing land, we're going to look at bonding in order to build the student center," Kavanagh said.The College Avenue Greening project requires the University to raise money, while the building of a new student center on the Livingston campus would require more committed money."Any of the money we use for enhancements for student centers or recreation centers or dining halls comes from student structure and bonding," she said.Kavanagh also said enlisting the help of private donors to help with such a project would not be feasible."The problem is student centers are not a high priority for donors," Kavanagh said. "They're just not."Internal Vice President Samantha Soren, a Livingston College junior, reported she thinks the LCGA still has "a lot of unanswered questions."