APRIL FOOL’S: This article was published as part of The News-Letter’s annual April Fool’s edition, an attempt at adding some humor to a newspaper that is normally very serious about its reporting.
The University announced the creation of the Center for Campus Innovation and Development, which will oversee all of the University’s current and future expansion projects in the Homewood area and beyond. This decision was announced on Monday, April 1 by President Ronald J. Daniels and Constructor-in-Chief Bob D’Bilder, in an email broadcasted to the Hopkins community.
“The Center for Campus Innovation and Development, or, as we’d like it to be known, the CID — pronounced ‘kid’ — center, is part of our drive to make this university the forefront of campus innovation,” D’Bilder announced in a recent press release. “When you look at it, we’re just not building enough. We’re not moving forward.”
Plans for the new CID center have been formally released to the public — students and affiliates can access them at weneed2buildmore.jhu.com. In an interview with The News-Letter, university administration official Barbara O’Erpayd explained how this new venture will impact the student experience at Hopkins.
“Well, it’s not really going to fully impact students currently enrolled in the University,” she revealed. “We plan on fully breaking ground in construction at the end of the semester, and at the moment, we expect the building to be ready by April 2027.”
When questioned how this would disrupt student activities, O’Erpayd emphasized that students, staff and faculty at Homewood Campus should be thankful that the University is so committed to investing in its future.
This will become the active construction site on campus by Fall 2024, as CID and the renovation of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library will join the Student Center in disrupting students’ day-to-day activities.
In an email to The News-Letter, President Daniels defended this new institutional investment.
“When you look at places like Harvard and Yale, they’re all building like crazy,” he explained. “We’re number one in research. I want to make us number one in real estate development as well.”
He also emphasized the importance of providing proper staffing support to these new ventures.
“Our administration is minuscule, really, if you look at all that we have going on. I want to expand administration, because that’s what’s at the heart of a university,” he wrote. “Not teaching or research, but bureaucracy.”
Some students, however, are not entirely convinced. Many have expressed dismay at having another part of campus surrounded by tarp and cranes. In an interview with The News-Letter, junior Donne Wittis questioned recent administration decisions.
“Dude, I’m not going to have a library next year, or the Student Center,” he complained. “Who knows if I’ll even have classrooms? Why not tear the whole thing down and do it all online?”
The News-Letter also spoke to senior Chip Ondesholler, president of the Hopkins Undergraduate Association for Future Neurosurgeons. He admitted that the general consensus amongst members of his club is that the University is not investing in what is most important to students.
“Why are we building a new center for innovation when there is no building for pre-medical studies here at Homewood?” Ondesholler complained in an interview. “Despite pre-meds being the overwhelming majority of students here at Hopkins, we have no dedicated space for networking, collaborating and building community.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
