Giving Campus a Face Lift
Jasper Everingham | September 20, 2023
Returning students and faculty of Warren Wilson College (WWC) may notice some changes this year to how the campus looks. From new pathways to refurbished common areas, an initiative to clean up WWC, led by President Damián Fernández, has been taking effect across campus. New to WWC as of June 1, 2023, President Fernández said he is excited watching this vision of campus come to fruition.
“I think [a nice-looking campus] tells a story, beyond the beauty of the place,” Fernández said. “It tells a story of our values; that we care for the land, we care for our buildings. It's part of good stewardship. So when I arrived, I realized that we could do a better job showing the care and the love we have for this place.”
Additionally, Fernández said he sees the initiative as being part of a broader effort to preserve the campus by caring for it well.
“We need to protect Warren Wilson for the future,” Fernández said. “So we need to invest in our buildings, in our systems [and] our foundations, because this is going to outlive me. We are playing a long game here.”
One area that this initiative has changed is the Owl’s Nest cafe on campus: changes include waxed floors and the removal of couches. Deb Malowski, Owl’s Nest’s manager, said that the former was a plus, while the latter was a con.
“I've been asking for the floor to be waxed for like eight years now,” Malowski said. “We get all the Sunderland traffic coming in and out of there, and it's constant, so that is something that I really appreciated.”
On the other hand, Malowski said, Owl’s Nest presently has no couches or “comfy” seating, due to delays in getting its couches replaced: another part of the campus-wide initiative. It is a relatively minor issue, Malowski said, but also a high-profile one given Owl’s Nest’s popularity on campus.
Eric Mangs, a 2021 alum and the current assistant landscape manager of WWC said that from his point of view, the campuswide initiative represented more of a high-level vision than an on-the-ground reality. He said that many of his duties involved regular maintenance that has not changed much since President Fernández’s arrival at the college.
“Damián [Fernández] a good vision for how things should look on the landscape,” Mangs said. “I think he’s put some fire on our heels a little bit… Damián sees things that we may not see because we're all over campus and we can't keep eyes on everything at all times. So it has impacted us, but a lot of [our work] is kind of the same day to day.”
Trace Howard, a WWC sophomore, said that he felt like the changes were nice, but said he was not sure how well they represent WWC as a college. While certainly an improvement, Howard said he felt like the building renovation work in particular — painted walls, new floors, new furniture and general aesthetic changes — seemed like it was trying to “fall in line with other colleges” rather than reflect Wilson’s individuality
“New floors are awesome,” Howard said, referencing the reflooring of Sunderland dorm. “But I don't think it's tip top priority if you're going to ask ‘What if we make the school better for current students and more appealing to incoming students.’”
One thing Howard highlighted was the artistic creativity of Wilson students, and the artsiness on campus. He said that the murals around campus, especially in the basement of Sunderland, make the school unique. He also said that he felt like having more murals on campus would make the school stand out more and be more appealing to new students than renovations.
“Why not put up [more] murals?” Howard asked. “[We should] have aesthetics that match Wilson's identity rather than just looking like any other college campus, because we're not any other college campus. We're a very unique space for a number of reasons, and I think we should value our uniqueness and what makes us special.”
Fernández said that he sees the initiative not as painting over what makes Wilson unique, but as “sprucing up” the parts that could use improvement.
“We will never be like other colleges,” Fernández said. “That doesn't mean that we should accept broken windows or disrepair or furniture that’s stained. I think being progressive — and that’s what we’re talking about, really, being progressive — does not foreclose good stewardship. We need to be good stewards, and I think we need to respond to our students who feel (and I've heard this from many students) that we need to take good care of our buildings, our residence halls, our academic structures, our athletic fields.”
In the end, Fernández said he was not intolerant of differing opinions, simply that he has a more restoration-oriented vision when it comes to campus.
“We don't all have to have the same aesthetics,” Fernández said. “But we must agree that we want a clean space, a healthy space [and] a place that takes care of its land and its buildings and its infrastructure, the same way that we need to take care of each other.”