About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 2011)
CONTACT US AT P.O. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603, LEnERS@FLAGPOLE.COM OR VIA THE “TALK BACK TO US" LINK AT FLAGPOLE.COM OPEN LETTER TO U6A We are writing to you on behalf of the Student Historic Preservation Organization at UGA in regard to UGA's plans to demolish Rutherford Hall. As much as we hate to see any historic building demolished, Rutherford is particularly disturbing because of its sig nificance to South Campus. UGA is known for the beauty of the North Campus quads, but in some ways the real heart of the university is south of Tate. South Campus is where the majority of classes take place and where the students, especially the undergrads, experi ence life at UGA. Rutherford Hall and Myers Quad are integral parts of that experience aes thetically, historically and emotionally. Part of the beauty of Myers Quad is the way that the scale, massing and style of all the residence halls are in balance and compliment each other. Demolition of Rutherford Hall would destroy that balance, and the Myers Quad would never be the same. The university states that a new residence hall would be built to house more students, in order to be economically viable. Your letter to the state indicates that the new building would have an "expanded footprint," which of course means larger, and therefore out of scale with the rest of the quad. You also state that the new design will be "contextual" with the other buildings on the quad. Does that mean it is safe to assume that it will be another "faux classical" monument covered in "lick and stick" ornamentation? That architecture has worked well for buildings like the Tate Center expansion, MLC and the new Hargrett Library, as they are massive, stand-alone buildings and are not meant to be part of a larger system. Myers Quad, on the other hand, is special in that the system of buildings is already in place. Why not leave it alone instead of build ing something new that has to try to be some thing that it isn't? Beyond the aesthetics of Rutherford Hall, there is also a tremendous amount of his tory represented in that building. It is one of a handful of PWA buildings constructed on campus during the Great Depression. It was part of a controversy between the state of Georgia and the Federal Government sur rounding federal influence based on funding. It was the third dorm built to house women on campus at a time when women, including some of our grandmothers, were just begin ning to seek college educations at UGA in large numbers. Probably most importantly, the Myers Quad housed Charlayne Hunter when she and Hamilton Holmes integrated the univer sity in 1961. The legacy of that time period at UGA is invaluable to current and future generations of students, and we would argue that it is far better represented in a building complex that actually housed Hunter, alone in a sea of white faces, rather than in a building on North Campus that simply bears her last name. Rutherford Hall is a fantastic teaching tool and a touchstone to history—one that becomes all the more valuable as the genera tions who lived through those events are lost and they become entries in a history book. It seems strange that two reports, done two months apart, would have such striking discrepancies in the condition of Rutherford Hall and its future viability. We are not argu ing that there are not issues with the struc ture, because any building that old is bound to have things come up. However, the uni versity prides itself on being the oldest state chartered school in the country, and the archi tects' office has proven time and again that they are up to the challenge of making our historic structures useful for the 21st century. So, why not here; why tear down Rutherford Hall to add some extra beds? Why ruin the Myers Quad, where so much money has already been expended for renovations, because the university feels Rutherford will be too expen sive, yet according to the state gives no real accounting of the costs. Why demolish a cherished piece of thousands of women's college experience because it is just easier for you? The Bulldog community awaits your answers. Dr. Crass expressed it best in his letter: "The demolition of this historic building is not justified." The Student Historic Preservation Organization at UGA • Athens A REPORT FROM HABITAT As Executive Director of Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, I would like to com mend Kevan Williams for bringing to light the staggering statistics regarding poverty in Athens-Clarke County. What Kevan's article didn't mention, however, is that the four counties that follow Athens with the highest poverty rates are all found in southern Texas, with three out of four of them bordering Mexico. How did a county an hour outside of Atlanta, with the oldest public university, top hospitals and medical care, median home prices in line with the national average, and a city consistently ranked as one of the best places to retire by Money. Fortune, Kiplinger's and others, win the unfortunate title of high est rate of poverty? Athens' high poverty rate didn't come all of a sudden. The county has hovered in the top five for more than 10 years. While it could be said that the high rate of poverty in Athens is due to the student population at the University of Georgia, the data available does not support this claim. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, 34.1 percent of all families in Clarke County with children under 18 years old have incomes below the poverty level, which is still nearly twice the state average of 18.5 percent. In addition, 38 percent of all families in Clarke County with children under five years old have incomes below poverty. This, and the fact that 98-99 percent of the student populations at three Clarke County elementary schools were on the free-and-reduced lunch program last year, it's impossible to point the finger at the university population. As a result, it's difficult to entice companies and corporations to move to a county with a high poverty rate, with public schools that are improving but are not where they should be performing, and with a severe lack of affordable housing. Every day, our staff works with not just the poor, but the very poor, in our county, and Athens Area Habitat has done a lot over the last six years to try to solve this problem. We're targeting high-poverty areas in which to build our homes. We have moved into offering affordable rental units to be used as a stepping stone to homeownership, which has never before been done by a Habitat for Humanity affiliate. We are building emergency handicapped ramps onto existing homes to help the sick and disabled access their homes easier. We are going into homes that are in desperate need of repair and fixing roofing and structural issues so homeowners on fixed incomes can stay in their houses rather than be forced to move to a shelter or assisted liv ing. Athens Area Habitat for Humanity is a huge, important part of the solution to our problem of poverty, but a major shift in rec ognizing and addressing the overall problems needs to occur if we are ever going to signifi cantly reduce poverty in Athens, GA. The problem of poverty in Athens affects us all, and both our state leaders and our com munity should be outraged. As residents, we all have a responsibility to work together to invoke change. Athens Area Habitat is lead ing the charge to increase the availability of affordable housing in Athens, and we are hopeful that others will answer the call as well. Spencer Frye, Executive Director Athens RE: RUTHERFORD HALL I read with interest the story in the June 29 Flagpole about Rutherford Hall and the uni versity's reluctant decision to bring the wreck ing ball as the best choice for the site. Is not feasibility always the problem with restoration/preservation? Does not historic value trump feasibility where it really matters? I wonder what made Myers Hall worth renovat ing 30 years ago? What about Soule Hall? We could go on and on. Stories about Housing's struggles to meet its needs inspire little confidence in the value of its input. They sound like they are no more than step-n'-fetchits for admissions, which tirelessly mines the Klondike stream known by the little people as the Hope Scholarship, and which apparently eyes enrollment levels as mere functions of Hope cashflow. Decades from now the Myers quad will per haps be more of an example of what campus once looked like. I am not an architecture critic, but I do have a naive sense of build ings that are pleasing. The SLC, for instance, towers like some grandiose, Roman, overdone brick monument, dwarfing its surroundings. The new Hargrett special collections building is equally self important and "too much sugar for a dime." East Campus Village stands like one of those condominium monstrosities on the Gulf Coast. Oh, and lest I forget, why did Stegeman Coliseum not get state historic review before that hideous "addition" was stuck onto the north face? It has all the charm of an Ogletho , County redneck's vinyl-sided exterior closet added to his engineered- manufactured home. It positively blasphemes the original structure. I am sure the original designers must be turning like Foosball dum mies in their respective graves. Jim Baird Comer BUMPERSTICKER OF THE WEEK: All My Children Have Paws Send sticker sightings to letters@flagpole.com. "BEGINNERS WELCOME! NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY fy/ftt CHI' ^ HY fwday 7-9 jjfa W0RKS9 >// *?® r $20/PtRS°l ■ ^’ims m firing met REGISTER at 706-355-3161 www.G00DDlR7.nei HAPPY HOUR Monday-Friday 4-7 pm $2 Domestic Bottles • $4 House Wine $2 House Champagne WEDNESDAYS KIP JONES Oysters $8 doz. raw or chargrilled a Open 4pm Mon-Fri and tiam Sal &: Sun 2095 S. 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