The Campus Center renovation that students have been waiting for is on hold indefinitely.
Before COVID-19, Otterbein would tell students that the Campus Center would be getting renovated soon, however when COVID-19 began, Otterbein stopped telling students that. Otterbein uses a lot of private donors, and because of COVID-19 and other factors, it is a lot harder now to get those private donations.
The biggest issue with Otterbein renovating the Campus Center is, “...having the funding in order to do it,” said director of facilities management/planning, Troy Bonte. “There are some funds that have been raised for the campus center. But unfortunately, there is just not enough.”
Otterbein’s former president, Kathy Krendl, had plans of charging students a fee to help raise money to renovate the campus center. Although the funds are not there right now, President Comerford decided against that decision because he thought that it would just essentially be raising student's tuition, which he was not a fan of.
Prior to COVID-19, students were being told the Campus Center would eventually undergo a renovation of some type. Once COVID-19 struck, the chances of the renovation became even more slim and therefore student tours stopped telling incoming students that.
“I had gotten my hopes up when they talked about renovating the campus center, but I understand why COVID-19 has stopped that process,” said sophomore accounting major Zack Martin.
Although Otterbein has not yet renovated the Campus Center, it is definitely something that they want to do in the near future when they can.
There is no set date on when the Campus Center will be renovated. Otterbein is looking for donors to help start that renovating process.
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