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OUR VIEW: Upgrade for campus good news for Kent community $200 million makeover could transform KSU

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Approval Tuesday by Kent State University's Board of Trustees of a proposed $200 million upgrade for the Kent campus is good news for the area economy and an important step forward in KSU remaining competitive as an important publicly supported institution of higher learning.

The specifics are not yet known, but this much is obvious. The upgrade, which will begin next year, will be a major area economic stimulus providing jobs over the next four to five years.

The main method of financing, bonds, could not come at a better time as rates are extremely advantageous because of the economic slump. Financing the bonds at a low rate will enable the university to keep student fees from rising as much as they might otherwise to pay off the bonds.

The upgrade is overdue. As President Lester Lefton said, outlining his proposal at Tuesday's trustee meeting, it is difficult to convince parents that Kent State is the right place for their "Sam or Susie" if air-conditioning systems don't work, roofs leak and facilities have the appeal of "Soviet-style architecture."

Top priorities in terms of building projects are academic facilities, including the science buildings, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, art programs, Van Deusen Hall and the new College of Public Health that the trustees approved recently that lacks a building of its own. These are all marquee programs that need to be showcased.

President Lefton also mentioned strengthening architectural aesthetics, an unfortunately undervalued commodity. An attractive campus can make Kent State a better place to learn and work. It can build good memories during the formative student years and alumni loyalty and the extra cost is not that much. In emphasizing aesthetics, President Lefton and the trustees are on the right track, we think.

Interestingly, the plan, whose details are not yet known, appears to emphasize making the campus more pedestrian friendly. It mentions moving staff and administrative buildings to the exterior of the campus and student classroom buildings to the center.

That is a good step, we think. When Kent State doubled the size of its campus in the 1960s, the pedestrian-friendliness of the campus was not a priority. Administrators and trustees were determined to shift the entrance to the campus from the corner of Lincoln and Main to the southeast to the S.R. 261 bypass.

This did make the campus more accessible by automobile, but in de-emphasizing walking to and fro from classroom to classroom, a kind of cold drive-through effect, more typical of urban campuses, was created and it really detracted from one of the university's prime assets, its being a part of a potentially charming small college town on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. That, followed by the construction of Haymaker Parkway in the early 1970s, isolated Kent State from the community, and both the city of Kent and the campus became the poorer for it.

In determining how the $200 million is invested in the campus, we hope some thought can be given toward integrating the campus with the community better. A vital community interacting with the university and its students can be nurtured this way.

Urban public institutions have awakened to the need for a campus setting to appeal to students and their parents. That is part of the rationale for the investment going on at the University of Akron, Cleveland State and Ohio State.

Kent State can compete with all three of these institutions in that respect if it is better integrated with the city of Kent because of the appeal of a safe and friendly college town atmosphere.

The $200 million upgrade has so much for potential for Kent State University and for the community. We are excitedly awaiting the details.