Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Isn't that a bit of a stretch?
My wonderfully crappy university has decided to name the primary dining hall after a big-money donor in a building that the students are mostly paying for?
GREEN BAY - In recognition of a longtime supporter and distinguished graduate, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will name the main dining area in the University Union the Leona Cloud Commons.
UW-Green Bay is honoring Leona Cloud for her involvement with the University and community and for her generous financial support of the Kress Events Center.
The dining area will be named and dedicated at a ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27.UW-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard thanked Mrs. Cloud for her generosity and support of the University, particularly of the Kress Events Center.
"Leona Cloud has been a great friend and supporter of Green Bay's University of Wisconsin," Shepard said. "We are proud that her name will be connected with one of our campus's most popular spots."
Mrs. Cloud and her husband, the late Walter R. Cloud, joined the UW-Green Bay Founders Association in 1975 and were members for many years. They also supported the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts and the University's first capital campaign.
More recently, her gift for UW-Green Bay's newest classroom building, Mary Ann Cofrin Hall, furnished the Cloud Lounge, a gathering place for students. She also was an early and generous supporter of the Kress Events Center, the renovated and expanded Phoenix Sports Center. The sports and events center will open in fall 2007.
Mrs. Cloud is an alumna of UW-Green Bay, having graduated in 1980 after returning to school as an adult student. She earned a degree in Human Development with high honors.
I’m glad to see that naming rights to just about anything can be purchased at UW-Green Bay. In fact, if I had a few million dollars lying around, I suppose there could be a Jon Hayden Memorial Men’s Lavatory, right across from the Christie Theatre.
Since 2002, I have paid $1,900 for the CL21—Campus Life for the 21st Century—projects. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid by UW-Green Bay students already for the University Union Expansion as the students are the primary source of funding for the project.
I find it highly offensive that only one student in the tens of thousands that have attended this fine university and only one of them gets the chance to have a named room after them. Forget about the fact that UWGB culture will suffer because “the Nic” is no longer—rather “the Cloud.”
The student union is a place for all students to use. We fund it, we’re the primary client and we are the primary workforce of it. No one student is more important than the other. No one student contributes more to fund the operations of it And no one student is in charge of it. That’s the beauty of the student union.
I can understand the naming Christie Theatre—Richard Christie was a fantastic Union director—but I cannot comprehend how university administration can sell the naming rights to a room like the Nic. Since Mrs. Cloud graciously contributed to the Kress Events Center, why not the Leona Cloud Fitness Center, or the Leona Cloud [insert athletics related room here]?
As a student I appreciate what Cloud family has provided the university, but as a student who has also contributed to the funding of the University Union and its expansion I wonder where we draw the line that all of the UWGB students since 1969 have financially contributed.
After all, do you really think you’d want a Jon Hayden Memorial Men’s Lavatory?
I didn’t think so.
Labels: UWGB
