OPINION: Bigger can be better

Maybe you’ve noticed. You’ve had to squeeze your puny meal tray in to make room at your table in the dining hall. You’ve spent 15 minutes trying to park near the HUB and ended up parking by BJ. Perhaps you’re a freshman who got stuffed in a triple. I heard they even set up some tents on the porch of BJ for a few lucky freshmen.

Just as you know this beautiful Spokane weather will soon turn its ugly head, you know that Whitworth is expanding. From what I hear, many people hold strong to the belief that if Whitworth continues to grow, the fall of Whitworth as we know it is near. Let me ease your anxiety.

More students enrolling than ever before (547 freshman this year compared to 530 in 2007) provides substantial funding for the many construction projects Whitworth is currently working on.  These projects include the new residence hall, science building, expansion of the HUB, a certain “gravely” looking athletic facility in the near future and many other projects. 

The considerable amount of money needed for these projects can come in three forms: raise tuition, increase the number of students, and collect money from donors and fundraising. The logical response to these projects is to accept more students.

Raising money through donors is tough to gauge and can’t be controlled, while raising tuition probably isn’t going to win over the students – although they still seem to do it every year anyway.   

Even if the student body grows to exceed 3,000, one of the most important things about Whitworth culture will remain intact: the closeness of the student body within the dorms.
While the university’s culture extends beyond this, a close-knit university cannot be possible if there isn’t a strong connective culture in the dorms. This closeness is a testament to the happy-go-lucky RAs who provide hall activities, Prime Times and are the link that brings the dorms together.   

The structure of each dorm is also an important but often overlooked factor in the closeness of a dorm, even though it is ultimately the leadership who make or break a dorm’s connective culture.  The layouts of Baldwin-Jenkins, Warren, Arend, Mac and Ballard allow for easy room-to-room access and a sense of openness on the halls. Improving on the poor structuring in Boppell and Duvall,  it seems the new dorm will be built as a Baldwin-Jenkins-style dorm, showing that Whitworth realizes that pods work well as apartment-style housing, but not as a dorm.   One of the smallest but most important features in the dorms can be the communal restrooms in each hall. Those who share restroom space usually share at least an acquaintance (or repeated uncomfortable encounters).  

Another Whitworth cultural cornerstone that will remain intact even with the growing student body is the athletic and intramural scene. The electric atmosphere at the football games and the raucous crowds at the volleyball and basketball games can only improve as the student body grows. Not to mention we could have stronger teams with more varsity athletes and therefore better overall programs.

And if you thought Whitworth was into Frisbee now, how about more players with more ‘bees flying through the air. Growth in these areas should be promoted and encouraged. 

Then there is the concern about the dining hall expansion, which is currently in the developmental stages. A larger dining hall area means more friends to sit with and less time spent looking for some.

It also seems there are concerns about class sizes that come up with the expansion. Solutions to this problem include adding another adjunct professor in each needed department to keep class sizes small, utilizing the library classrooms more effectively, and adding another section  of a potentially larger class. This would probably be the most challenging part of Whitworth’s growth, but is still manageable. 

The concern about campus size often gets overblown, as if we are turning into the next Washington State. Even if we double the student body (5,200) we would still be smaller than Gonzaga (6,400), which is considerably smaller than most state universities (WSU is 17,583). This type of discussion is appealing with the new freshman figures up and the consistent increase in student body. But Whitworth growing into a Washington State, or Gonzaga for that matter, is far off. Whitworth’s structural improvements and the addition of more undergraduates don’t take away from the draw of Whitworth but rather add to the unique culture of the university.

Dave Gerig is an opinions columnist and a senior majoring in health, fitness and physical education. Contact him at dave.gerig@whitworthian.com.

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out